


Ojos Color Sol

by Varmint



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, Hidan (Naruto) Swears, Hidan Being Himself, Love at First Sight, M/M, Soulmates (kind of), Underage Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 13:50:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7107523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Varmint/pseuds/Varmint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Translates into: Eyes the Color of the Sun</p><p>Hidan never really needed anybody. All he had needed in his life had been his Lord, Jashin. Then that mutt had fallen into his lap from the tree tops with those damned eyes... Why did he not feel the need to make others bleed when those eyes were on him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_Hidan's POV:_

"Look out below!"

The day had been rather peaceful and kind. Hidan should have expected something was going to happen to fuck it all up.

Nothing positive or _nice_ ever happened to him. He was one violent motherfucker. If positive and nonviolent things happened to him the world would be even more fucked up than it already was because he would have taken advantage of the favorable circumstances and murder and plunder even more.

After he had walked through a mildly crowded village, the Jashinist had decided to take a small nap under the shade of trees. After leaving his village, he had gone on a beautiful rampage across the lands and sated his Lord to an extent. When he had awoken this morning, though, he had decided that his scythe would not be used unless provoked. (To him provoked could range from being looked at to being breathed on, but... Eh... This was him being nice for once.)

Seriously, when the birds were singing like this and the sun was shining so brightly, he should have noticed that something was _going_ to happen. There was no such thing as a beautiful day for a terrible person like him. Not even Jashin was powerful enough to have him go through one whole day without meeting any kind of conflict or strife.

As soon as he had heard that yell, the silver haired man had looked up at the tree line. And when he did, he found a blur of gray and black suddenly falling over him and there was no real time for him to react and move away. Instead he could only brace his body for the impact that came from... Whatever the hell this thing was.

The man grunted and groaned at the impact but took the hit rather well. His arms were splayed to either side of him- he had moved them there to center his body- while his legs were splayed out in front of him. His eyes had closed on instinct but when he opened them, he found himself face to back with what he deemed was a Jashin damned dumbass that was no older than fifteen.

"Oh... Shino, you bastard!"

Hidan quirked an eyebrow at the rather _odd_ words that came from the idiot that had fallen onto him, then growled and pushed the person to get his attention.

A squawk of surprise left the kid's mouth and his arms and legs flew to try and keep his balance, which meant that Hidan had to dodge those flailing limbs. He managed to avoid two arms and one leg, but the last leg connected with his shin. The hit did not hurt much, it annoyed more than anything. And another annoyed growl left him as he grabbed both arms that had tried to hit him and hoisted the kid up to look at him.

He wore a gray jacket with black fur at the end of its sleeves and around its hood, which annoyed Hidan for some reason he couldn't understand. Eh, it was ridiculous attire. That's why. Then the kid wore pants and had a kunai pack wrapped around his thigh... So this must be a genin...

"Now you listen here, you stupid, little bas-" The words were growled and angered, but they died down in his throat when he came face to face with the kid that had hit him.

Tanned skin, blood red fangs on his cheeks, sharp yet innocent features, and... Well, he would be lying if he tried to say otherwise. The most breathtaking eyes Hidan had ever seen in his life.

There wasn't much about them that would stand out normally. They were black and surrounded by a slightly angled eye shape and medium length eyelashes. He had seen eyes like this many times before. But, if they were so regular... Why did Hidan's breath suddenly catch in his chest?

The scathing words he had been about to yell withered in his mouth and soon enough Hidan was just left staring at the kid in front of him, eyes wide and staring intently at the boy's own. With every closing of the kid's eyes, Hidan followed without a blink, and he could feel his chest tighten in the most amazing of ways when those eyes opened up once more and he was able to greet those beautiful eyes once more.

"-done staring?"

Those words weren't completely heard by Hidan. His mind was a bit busy reeling over the wonders he found hidden within those eyes.

"Yo. Old man. Stop staring. Can you let go of me now?" The kid grouched and Hidan blinked rapidly while shaking his head, trying to clear it.

Wait, had he heard right?

"Did you just call me old man?" Hidan growled, momentarily forgetting how enraptured he had previously been.

The boy's amazing eyes rolled at that moment and he scoffed. "You've got almost white hair... What, am I supposed to think you're young like me?"

Forget those eyes. This kid was losing his throat.

Even with the promised threat ringing in his head, Hidan didn't move to do anything to the boy. Instead he moved his hands from holding on to the kid's arms to rest at his hands. Not surprisingly at all for a ninja, the hands were calloused and rough.

"Have you never heard of respect for your elders?" His anger was half hearted, and Hidan couldn't help but wonder just what in the world was wrong with him.

The kid's eyes followed Hidan's hands in silence, seeming slightly confused as to why the man was being so weird, then looked up once more. "Of course I have. But you're being a bit of a creep."

Hidan frowned in annoyance and felt his eyebrow twitch, then growled, "Just what were you doing falling into my lap?" He hissed, even though he didn't let go of the boy's wrists.

The kid groaned dramatically and leaned back slightly- which made Hidan notice he was basically sitting Hidan's lap with his legs to either side of him- then answered with a tone of sarcasm only a teenager could achieve. "Oh, I _totally_ enjoy falling into old men's laps on a daily basis. You're my fifth of the day."

"You are the most disrespectful shit I've met in my life." Hidan growled, adding a _that I haven't killed_ in his mind.

"Yeah?" The kid asked flashing him an abrasive half-smile. He had really sharp canines. "Well you're the _oldest_ most disrespectful shit I've met in _mine_."

A growl bubbled up in Hidan's chest right then but the kid's smile only turned into a smirk.

"You're also the oldest person I've had feel me up."

"Feel you up?" Hidan muttered almost dumbly, then noticed where his hands still were- holding onto the kid's wrists- and quickly pulled them away to point a long finger in the kid's face. "You wish, junior!"

Hidan almost slapped himself at how positively _weak_ the insult was. But instead of showing how perturbed he was by the kid, he instead shook his head and turned his head away from him.

"You have quite some nerve. First you fall on me, then you call me old, and now you want to cry molestation! This all started when you _landed_ on me like some idiot that can't control chakra!"

The kid jumped forward and Hidan wondered just why the hell the kid had to go so _high_ when he did so, but couldn't push the kid off before he began to speak once more. "Hey, buddy, you're the one saying you molested me!"

"I did no such thing!" Hidan shouted back, but the kid now leaned back, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes while turning his head away.

"I could find the police right now and you'd be put in jail as a child molester."

That's it. Beautiful eyes or not, this kid was going to get it.

Hidan moved his hands slowly so he could wrap them around the boy's neck, but before he could do just that, a sudden bark from a few feet away had the kid jumping up and away from Hidan.

A white dog of, say, average height for an adult appeared through the trees now and bounded up to the kid, its tongue lolling to the side of its mouth as it panted. The kid crouched down and opened his arms to catch the animal and laughed when he begun to spun it around. And Hidan would be a liar if he said that he felt nothing when that laughter rang in his ears.

What the actual _fuck_ was wrong with him?!

"Akamaru! You found me! Did you get away from the mean Shino? Did ya?!" The boy asked in a baby voice that had Hidan rolling his eyes as he brought his legs up to cross them beneath him and arms to cross over his chest.

"He did not." A new voice answered from the trees and now Hidan wondered just why there were so many people around him today. "He helped me find you, Kiba." The boy that now appeared wore a heavy coat that covered half of his face, dark sunglasses, and wild hair. Weirdo.

But after he passed judgement on the new kid's clothes, Hidan noticed the name he had called the one with the fangs on his face. Kiba. Made sense. Fit him perfectly, actually.

"It's not my fault you punched me more than a hundred yards away from camp!" Kiba grumbled as he put his dog down.

The animal began to sniff at his owner's hands, then the ground, and finally began to make his way towards Hidan. When the wet nose hit his hand, Hidan jumped and glared at the animal as dangerously as he could. But the animal only seemed to smile at him and sat down beside Hidan.

"Akamaru, get away from him." Kiba warned, "He's a weird old man!"

Those words stung Hidan more than they should have. Seriously, what was going on with him? These feelings weren't _normal_ for someone like _him!_ With a shake of his head, Hidan stood up and placed one of his hands on his hips.

"No respect... Especially after harming me." For dramatic effect, he rubbed at his abs and pouted slightly. "You might've broken a rib."

Kiba's face went from irritating smirk to disbelieving gasp in almost no time and Hidan couldn't help but smirk at that. Then Hidan continued. "You owe me something for my troubles of catching you."

The odd kid with the weird hair looked from Hidan to Kiba with a face the Jashinist couldn't really distinguish, then breathed out, shook his head, and turned around and walked back into the forest. Kiba growled at Hidan and walked up to him, those wonderful eyes now shining with annoyance and a passionate fire.

"You. Are. Unbelievable." He emphasized each word with a poke at Hidan's exposed chest, which only amused Hidan even more.

"But I _am_ amazing." His smile couldn't have been any more infuriating and he readily enjoyed how the dog boy bristled. "Now, you gonna take care of this old man's ailing joints?"

Huh... Dog boy... Mutt... Pup... Oh, Hidan could use all of that.

"Fine." Kiba growled after a moment, then turned around and waved him forward. "Follow me, then, _old man_."

Hidan bristled as well at those words, but said nothing more as he followed the very much younger kid.

He didn't understand why he was doing this. Under any other circumstances, he would have killed the kid minutes ago. And his dog. _And_ his friend. _And_ that other friend they had mentioned at some point. But, instead of unleashing violence to quench his Lord's thirst, he was following the kid into his camp for medical aid he certainly _didn't_ need.

With a sigh, the man shrugged. Well, he didn't understand it... But he knew that he really liked that kid's eyes. So even if it meant lying about his injuries, he was okay following him. It meant he'd be able to enjoy those amazing eyes for a bit longer.


	2. Chapter 2

_Kiba's P.O.V.:_

The old man was weird.

He didn't seem like he was able to take the hint that Kiba did _not_ want him around. If anything, he seemed more than eager to follow Shino and Akamaru back to their camp just to piss the dog nin off.

Actually, now that he thought about just how weird this guy was, Kiba wondered why he hadn't tried to get away from him as fast as possible. He had just allowed himself to stay on the man's lap without ever trying to struggle out of his grip. Of course, that had been until Kiba had jumped away from him because of fear of getting caught by his teammate in a very compromising position with a guy who's name he didn't even know.

But, truth be told, he knew why he hadn't jumped away until that point. The guy's scent was intoxicating. And while smells weren't something that non-Inuzuka would be able to understand, those that did hold the gifts of his clan knew just how powerful one single scent could be. And what meaning each individual smell gave the person that emitted it.

Really, he should have jumped away from the guy as soon as he had held his arms up like some rag doll. Then the guy had been growling about something or another... But Kiba hadn't been paying attention to any words being said at that moment because he had been too busy being surprised by the amazing scents that were permeating his sense of smell.

Kiba had never been one to follow his eyes explicitly. Being from the Inuzuka clan, he tended to trust in his nose a lot more than in his eyes. And, at the moment when the man was busy staring at him like some piece of meat, Kiba had been occupied sniffing at the air and the man.

Of the scents he had smelled before, he could sniff hints of blood, sweat, death, ashes, metal, and- oddly enough- some flower he was sure Ino had once showed him. Then there were new smells he wasn't quite sure how to distinguish. But the really amazing thing about all of these smells was that they were all coming from the same source. From the silver haired grump that had held his arms up.

If his sister had been there, she would have laughed her ass off at him. Oh, he could just hear her voice making fun of him: 'You actually stayed on a man's lap because he _smell_ good?! Little brother, it's a miracle you're not dead yet!'.

With a soft sigh, Kiba shoved his hands into his pockets and chanced a glance at the guy and felt his cheeks begin to burn.

The man was staring at him. Without trying to cover up the fact that he was.

Those pale red eyes were once again focused on Kiba and the teen had no idea how to react. The guy's scent was just a tad bit less overwhelming now that they had some actual distance between them, but Kiba could still smell it. And, oddly enough, it made him feel comfortable around the guy.

There was something seriously wrong with him. There must be. His senses were going haywire and it was all because of this man... Well, not really his sense. Just his smell. But it still bothered him! He needed his smell to be able to track!

He just hoped that none of his teammates were able to figure out there was something off about him before he was able to figure out just why he was acting this way.

"So, what's your name?"

The guy's voice was deep and rich and... Was he really thinking about the guy's voice?

With a dismayed groan, Kiba hung his head for a moment before looking ahead once more and answering with a growl, "Kiba."

They fell back into silence once more after that because Kiba really did not want to talk to the man anymore. First the guy wouldn't stop staring at him. Then he had to have a delectable smell that made Kiba want to hug- No. He was going to stop that train of thought right there. No, no, no. He would _not_ fall into the stereotype of the Inuzuka clan being as cuddly and personal as the animals around them. He was a _tough_ guy. He didn't need to hug anyone.

Except for maybe Hinata... But that was because she deserved all the hugs.

"Well, my name's Hidan." The man spoke up after only a few seconds of silence, smiling wickedly at the kid's back. "There's no need for you to be so damned rude, y'know? You fell on me and bruised a rib or two."

"And I apologized for falling on you." Kiba sighed in exasperation as he stopped walking and turned to the man.

Oh, that guy was cocky. How he would love to wipe that stupid smirk off his face.

Hidan's smile was more of a smirk and the fact that he was shirtless seemed to make him an even bigger nuisance in Kiba's mind. Who did he think he was, displaying his built body for the rest of the world to see? Kiba had to admit, though, he had a good body.

Sometimes Kiba wondered if he could just turn his brain off before he embarrassed himself. Well, at least he knew how to keep his mouth shut even when his thoughts were running all over the place.

"Nope. You never apologized." Hidan announced with a decisive nod, and Kiba quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Of course I apologized. You're most probably just messing with me again."

Hidan's face read of amusement while Kiba knew his eyebrow was twitching. "Do you really want to get into an argument about if you apologized or not? Kid, are you really _that_ immature?"

Kiba's face flared and he took out his hands from his pockets to point at Hidan accusingly. "Hey, you're the immature one here! You're an old man and you're picking fights with teenagers!"

"I don't seen any Jashin damned teenagers." Hidan answered coolly, smile even wider now that he had gotten such an intense reaction from Kiba, "I only see one petulant dog."

Oh, that was the last straw!

"I'm no dog!" Kiba shouted all the while he stomped his way towards the silver haired man. "I am from the Inuzuka Clan! A proud family of trackers that have amazing relationships with our nin dogs!"

This made Hidan's smile falter slightly, then he was crouching slightly with his hand cupped besides Kiba's ear to whisper in it. "Was that actually a smart move, kid? Do you think announcing you're damned clan's secrets to who might be a fucking enemy is really the right thing to be doing?"

Kiba's mood went from completely enraged to frozen in shock. He had just committed the greatest mistake any ninja in a foreign land could make.

Hidan straightened up then and shrugged, "I mean, I guess I don't seem like much a threat because I don't have my scythe with me, but I was pretty damn sure that you Konoha ninja were supposed to be smarter than this..." And there was that insufferable smirk once more, "I guess I was wrong in buying in to the propaganda."

Once more Kiba's cheeks flared in anger, but before he could think of a come back, Shino appeared beside him. The sudden appearance of his quiet friend made Kiba jump and yelp softly, which in turn made Hidan snicker. Kiba glared at the man then at Shino, who only stared back at him in his unfeeling way.

"Could you walk any slower?"

Then Shino was walking away once more and Kiba couldn't help but grind his teeth together in anger.

Nothing wanted to work out well for him today, did it?

First he fell into that weird guy's lap. Then the guy wouldn't leave him alone. Now he even had _Shino_ against him. And that wasn't even adding to the list the fact that Kiba's sense of smell insisted on telling him that Hidan was a good guy and worthy of hugging. At least he still had Akamaru with him.

Thinking about his dog, Kiba noted that he, in fact, did not have him with him.

"Hey, where's Akamaru?" Kiba called to Shino's back, who never stopped walking.

"Already reached the camp." Then he was too far away for Kiba to bother yelling at.

Kiba did _not_ pout. No, he was a ninja. And ninjas _didn't_ pout. But he may have jutted out his lip slightly at being ignored by the guy he considered his best friend, even though he was already accustomed to that type of treatment.

But, apparently, Hidan seemed to think that he _was_ pouting.

"Aw, puppy lost his bone?" Hidan asked with a cheeky smirk and Kiba wondered just why he was leading this guy towards their camp.

"Shut up." Kiba growled before crossing his arms and walking once more. "Just follow me."

"Sure thing, sweet cheeks."

Kiba really hated this guy.

Once they finally reached their campsite, Kiba was more than sure that Hidan was not injured in any manner. And if he was, he was damn good at hiding it. The whole time they spent walking, the man spent talking about the dumbest things. But at least Kiba had learned a bit about the guy's Lord and Savior, Lord Jashin. Kiba wasn't too big on religion, but it was interesting to see that someone was wholly devoted to their beliefs. No matter how weird they might sound.

"Kiba kun." Hinata greeted with a small bow as she stood before the camp fire, voice soft and eyes kind. "Are you alright?"

Kiba raised his hand up to the back of his head and rubbed at it softly, smiling cheekily at her, "Yeah, I am... Guess it just wasn't a good idea to piss Shino off, huh?"

"It never is."

Kiba glared at Shino as the teen made his way into his tent, presumably to do whatever freaky bug ninjas did in their free time while on a simple mission.

"Were you injured?" Hinata asked cautiously, then gasped when she noticed Hidan lumbering in from the forest. "Oh!" Her eyes widened and mouth went up to her hands.

Why?

Because Hidan was rather occupied at the moment cursing everything under the sun.

"-king pieces of heathen shit! You little bastards have no fucking reason to live! I'll make sure to include you in my next prayer to Lord Jashin! And by that I mean to prey your fucking corpses keep your meaningless and crappy souls in them so you suffer for all fucking eternity!"

He had stepped on an anthill a few minutes ago and Kiba was rejoicing in his pain. Hinata, on the other hand, was a much more delicate being and not accustomed to so many swear words so she immediately became flustered.

"Hidan, isn't it a bit much to be threatening ants with such a fate?" Kiba asked in amusement, receiving a glare from the red eyed man.

"Lord Jashin rules all! Including these pieces of shit!"

"They're ants, Hidan."

"Why the fuck do I care? They're infidels and deserve to rot."

Kiba rolled his eyes and turned back to Hinata. "Sorry about that, Hinata. This is Hidan, some old guy that cushioned my fall after Shino made me fly."

Hinata's cheeks were about as red as the fangs on Kiba's face, but she still bowed respectfully at Hidan and greeted him, "I-it is a pleasure to meet you, H-Hidan."

Kiba looked back at Hidan and found a dangerous glint in his eyes. As soon as he did, he glared at him and motioned for him to not dare say anything that would traumatize Hinata. Because this old man was the type of person to scar Hinata to no end with just his words.

"Yeah, yeah." Hidan answered and Kiba was proud to not hear any more curses. "You got any food? Catching flying dogs makes me kind of hungry."

"Uh, y-yes." Hinata nodded then began to move hurriedly to the pot on the small fire to give him some of their soup.

While she did that, Kiba shook his head and glared at Hidan, "Don't you try anything with her, old man."

Hidan spent a few seconds thinking on something and Kiba really hoped he wouldn't do anything, then Hidan crossed his arms and looked at the teen. "What's in it for me?"

Kiba sighed and shrugged, "I don't know... Free food?"

The man looked him over for another second, then shrugged and made his way to sit on a log by the pot. "Fine. Free food is free food."

Well, at least he wouldn't bother Hinata.


	3. Chapter 3

_Hidan's POV:_

Breakfast was breakfast. If it came from some teenage genin's campsite or from some lucky sacrifice to Lard Jashin did not matter to him. As long as Hidan ended up with some type of food in his stomach, he was happy and content.

After the painfully quiet girl had given him his food, the man had murmured a quick prayer to his Lord then began to scarf the food down. The soup he had been given was still hot and had been recently cooked, so he at least had something warm entering his stomach. He had gotten accustomed to cold servings of food left behind by now dead people who's souls he had offered to Lord Jashin. And even though soup for breakfast wasn't all that astonishing, he didn't mind because it didn't taste like crap.

The kid he had chosen to follow for further research- because he needed to figure out just why he was so breath taken by his eyes, it wasn't for anything other than pure observation and theorization- sat down on the log beside Hidan's own and breathed out with an annoyed glint in his eyes.

Hidan couldn't help but notice just how warm those eyes were. Even with the annoyance reflected in those dark pools, he could tell that this kid was much kinder than he was letting on.

... Maybe he shouldn't have forsaken those ants and deemed them only worthy of horrible, painful deaths.

Blowing softly on the hot soup, Hidan brought a spoonful up to his mouth and decided to just enjoy the free food he had been offered. While keeping an eye on the annoyed teenager, Hidan ate with a soft smile.

"Hey, kid, what the fuck you doing in the middle of nowhere?"

Apparently, from the way the kid glared at Hidan, he did not enjoy the silver haired man's choice of words. But it's not like it was Hidan's fault... He was naturally a potty mouth.

"I could ask you the same thing, old man." Kiba grumbled softly and Hidan couldn't help but be slightly amused at the way his lower lip jutted out in a pout.

He was sure if he pointed out the fact that kid was pouting, he would only receive denials from said kid. He seemed to be the kind of person to act like a tough guy, even though he was the exact opposite.

It was cute.

... ... Wait a minute... ...

Had Hidan just though of another person as 'cute'?

Fuck, he was going insane.

With a soft sigh, Hidan went back to eating, this time turning his sights on the fire before him.

Clearly these three were genin and were camping out in the forest as part of some mission or training exercise. But, seeing how they were from the Hidden Leaf, Hidan guessed it was more of a mission type of situation. They wouldn't be so far from home just for a measly training session.

For some reason, he didn't like the silence that fell over him and Kiba. On any other given day, he would have rejoiced in not having to speak to the idiots around him. But there was something about the kid's voice... By Jashin, he was really losing it if he wanted to continue to hear the kid just _talk_.

"Don't have anywhere else to go." Hidan suddenly said, managing to get a confused look from Kiba as the kid turned to him. That's when he noticed that he had said that after a moment of silence and cleared his throat, "You asked what I was doing here. I answered." He mumbled softly as Kiba's eyes seemed to soften and he felt himself suddenly become very self aware of himself.

Which was something he really did not understand because he had never cared about what anyone thought of him. Most that criticized him ended up as sacrifices to Lord Jashin, so he had never truly found himself needing to listen to whatever others might say. Yet, for some reason, seeing the kid's eyes lose the annoyance and become inquisitive made Hidan feel a tiny bit self conscious.

Turning away from him with a scoff, Hidan finished mumbling, "Not like you need to know."

He glanced up at the light blue sky over him, then down at his food once more, trying to keep from looking at Kiba and those amazing eyes.

By Jashin, what was wrong with him? If this kid had been any other stranger, he would not have hesitated to decapitate him the very second he fell on his lap! Then... Why did he _not_ feel like murdering anyone at the moment?

Even if he could begin to understand not wanting to hurt the kid with the amazing eyes, there was no understanding why he didn't want to hurt his friends. Sure, the kid was interesting enough to entertain Hidan. But the other two teenagers hanging around here were quiet and annoying... Under any other circumstances, Hidan would not have hesitated to mess a bit with the shy girl.

So why hadn't he?

With a sigh, Hidan admitted it was because Kiba had asked him to not mess with the girl.

"Well, we're here on a mission." Kiba spoke up after a few minutes of silence, sighing softly as he leaned back on his arms.

The sight of Kiba leaning all the way back on the log with his palms planted firmly against the floor gave Hidan a very nice view of the kid's whole body... And suddenly he found his head filled with all kinds of images of the boy leaning in that exact same manner under different circumstances beneath Hidan...

The blush that overtook his face made him feel like a complete lecher. This was a teenager! Undoubtedly more than five years younger than Hidan!

Yet... Kiba looked pretty well developed for his age... No! Hidan had to stop that line of thought this instant!

Great... He was completely going insane... First he couldn't stop himself from gawking at the kid like some love sick puppy and now he was thinking of him in a less than innocent manner. If anybody could hear his inner monologue, they'd incarcerate him for being a pedophile...

"A mission?" Hidan asked with a gulp of his soup, trying to focus on eating and conversation rather than Kiba's current pose. "You kids are genin, right?"

Kids. He should remember that. These were _kids_. _Kiba_ was just some snot nosed genin from the Hidden Leaf. He wasn't old enough to be making decisions like what Hidan was thinking of.

Apparently, the fact that they were genin was a touchy subject for the kid because he straightened up and sneered slightly at Hidan, hands tightening into fists as he rested his elbows against his knees and leaned forward.

"Yeah, we are... But I was robbed of being a chuunin!"

The kid had heart, Hidan could admit. And he seemed very set on the fact that he had apparently been robbed of rising in the ninja ranks.

Not like those mattered much to Hidan anymore, not after he had left his village in a fit of rage that had cost many their lives.

"Sure... Weren't we all?" Hidan waved the heated words off, then asked, "So what are you up to now?" before the kid could interrupt him and, most probably, explain how he had been robbed.

He was amused to see Kiba's sneer turn into yet another pout at being cut off by Hidan, but soon enough the kid was leaning back once more and waving his left hand as if he didn't care much for what he was about to say.

"Eh, it was a simple mission... We had to make sure this old lady got back to her house and we got some food... She was a nice lady..." He explained, then laid his left hand on the ground once more to be balanced on both hands. "We're heading back to our village now."

Even though he was happy that the teenager seemed to trust him already, Hidan couldn't help but worry about this information. If he was telling Hidan after barely knowing him, was he innocent enough to trust in any stranger that happened to come across him.

Quite frankly, that thought terrified Hidan and he chose to shake his head to try and dispel it. This kid was a genin from the Leaf Village. He wasn't dumb enough to trust easily in anyone... Even though he _had_ trusted Hidan enough... Oh, this whole thing was a making a mess inside his head.

"Konoha, right?" Hidan asked, feigning innocence.

Kiba could only smile cheekily at him, "That's what the headband says, right?"

Oh, what he would do to that mouth... Hidan was really starting to regret having decided to go along with his impulse to follow the kid to his camp. These thoughts were starting to get outright annoying.

"I guess that's what it says." Hidan smiled back, then finished gulping down his soup and placed it down beside him. "You wouldn't mind an old man like me joining you on your trip?"

Wait a minute... What the fuck had he just said? Did he really just?

Kiba seemed to be just as shocked as Hidan was at his odd question.

Seriously, what kind of pervert did Hidan have to be to ask to join a group of genin on their trip home?

And why was he even thinking about going to the Hidden Leaf Village where all the jonin would know about him being in the Bingo Book? Sure, he was immortal, but he really should not be thinking about going anywhere that had such a large concentration of able ninjas. His Lord Jashin most probably would have given him a limit to his immortality and Hidan was not sure if it would be wise to actually test its limits.

But the idea of having more time with those eyes around... Well, Hidan had never been known for being too smart. And he was sure he would find a way to enter the Hidden Leaf without rousing any suspicion- not from Kiba or his friends, nor from the ninja guarding the gate- if he was given enough time.

Why not enjoy some time with the kid with the hypnotizing eyes?

Kiba blinked for a moment as Hidan smiled broadly at him, then shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. The kid lowered his hood and ran a hand through wild black hair- and Hidan had to restrain himself from thinking about actually petting the dog like boy- then smiled up at Hidan.

"Why not? A new set of hands means less work for us all." Kiba shrugged, then whistled sharply. "Akamaru, where are you? You know you're supposed to gather up a bit more fire wood!"

The dog barked from somewhere to Hidan's left and the man couldn't help but smirk at the aggravated twitch Kiba's eyebrow gave.

"What? You can speak dog?" He asked jokingly, only to receive a deadly serious look from the boy.

"Fluently." He muttered in a low growl, straightening up once more to scratch once more at the back of his head. "Akamaru doesn't want to get firewood... _And_ called me a few words before telling me to get it myself..." He sighed out, taking a look at the fading fire. "Wanna help me get some more?"

Hidan smirked at the lazy tone Kiba had adopted, clearly not wanting to grab any of the wood his dog was supposed to fetch, but then found himself nodding without much thought. When he noticed what he had agreed to, he knew Kiba was surprised at actually agreeing to do something, then found himself floundering for an explanation.

"Uh... Sure, I'll go with you... Someone has to make sure you don't fall on any more old men's laps, right?" He laughed awkwardly, mentally slapping himself for sounding like such an idiot.

What was wrong with him? He shouldn't be so affected by those brown eyes! Yet... He was... Feelings were very annoying.

Kiba pouted once more at the reminder of how he had met Hidan, then stood up from his leg and motioned for the man to follow after him. Hidan got up as well, leaving his bowl without a second thought, and followed after the kid with his hands clasped together behind the back of his head.

While in the forest, he'd be lying if he said he didn't chance a few glances at an unsuspecting Kiba crouched over. But he did help the kid gather a bit more fire wood and that was a miracle in and of itself because he usually never helped anyone.

Once back in the campsite with enough fire to make lunch, Kiba informed his teammates of taking Hidan with them. The Shino kid didn't say much other than "Alright." while the Hinata girl blushed at the idea of being around yet another male. Akamaru seemed to become happier at having Hidan join them.

By the time they had finished gather all the wood and giving the small announcement, noon had rolled around and Hidan was a bit hungry once more. But he knew if he was to actually go ahead with these kids, he would have to grab his gear so he was prepared for travel. So he took the opportunity that they were preparing lunch to excuse himself for a little while.

"I'm gonna go grab my stuff... You know... The things I left behind when flying dog over there hit me." He smirked to himself at the growl that came from Kiba, then smiled at three teenagers around the fire. "I'll be back in a bit."

Hinata nodded and 'Hai'ed with a light blush on her cheeks, while Shino didn't even seem to acknowledge the man. Kiba nodded as well but Akamaru, for some reason, barked and ran up to Hidan's side.

The man quirked an eyebrow at the dog, then looked back at Kiba, who shook his head.

"Akamaru, don't be ridiculous. You can't go with him."

Hidan couldn't help but be confused as the dog barked and growled in answer.

"What? You'd really choose him over me, you ungrateful mutt?" Kiba growled at the dog, who growled back and barked once before sitting himself beside Hidan's leg.

"Uh... The fuck's going on?" Hidan finally asked when Kiba turned his nose away from both he and the dog, actually really worried about what was happening.

Then Kiba spoke up and he couldn't help but feel stupid for having cared, "Akamaru wants to go with you! Stupid, ungrateful animal... You give them the best..." Kiba muttered in a rant that drifted off and Hidan couldn't help the smile the split his face.

"He likes me more?" The silver haired man taunted, receiving a glare from the teen.

"Shut up!"

Hidan rolled his eyes at the shout, then looked down at Akamaru. "Ok. Come on, mutt. We've a ways to go."

It was when he was a few good feet away from the teenagers' camp that he noticed that he had actually agreed to walking a dog.

He felt like an idiot.


	4. Chapter 4

Kiba's P.O.V.:

After spending more time with the man, Kiba had decided the guy was a weirdo.

At the beginning, his insufferable smirk had irked the dog nin to no end. But after he had been given some food, the man had apparently noticed how much of a jerk he was being and began to blush slightly. It wasn't a very noticeable blush, but Kiba did notice it. And he had also began to speak to Kiba as if he were another human being, not just some piece of meat to annoy.

It was weird to see that Hidan was actually capable of being a polite human being. And the change in his demeanor confused Kiba bit. But he did rejoice in it because the change made Hidan become just a bit more bearable.

Quite frankly, he had never met anyone in his life that Akamaru liked as much as Hidan. He had been surprised at first to see the dog actually walk up to the man without any hesitation, but had chalked that up to the dog being curious. But now that Akamaru had willingly gone with the man into the forest rather than stay with his master, Kiba knew that there was more to Hidan than just a foul mouth and confusing temper.

Inuzuka nin dogs were not too keen on strangers. When a child from the clan adopted his nin dog, they would be partners for life. And the only time Kiba had ever heard that an Inuzuka's dog liked someone else... Well, Hana must have been exaggerating. It couldn't be only for mates, right? Maybe Akamaru liked Hidan's strange way of being and had decided he would be a good friend for Kiba.

Besides, if Akamaru could smell the same thing Kiba did from the man... Kiba couldn't hold anything against the dog then.

As Hinata prepared lunch for the group, Kiba and Shino sparred a bit. This time, though, Kiba made sure to not piss the Aburame off and flirt with being launched by the other once more. One time had been enough. And that time had ended up with him landing on Hidan... So he wasn't too keen on repeating the experience.

They had ended up only using taijutsu and Kiba found slight happiness in finding out that he wasn't completely out of Shino's league when it came to that fighting style. Even though Shino still wiped the floor with him, Kiba was proud in his growing abilities.

When Hidan returned, Kiba was surprised at the sight of him.

The first thing the boy noted was the fact that he was not bare-chested anymore. Instead of being treated to hard muscle, Kiba was now being tortured by the sight of said muscle covered by and stretching a tight white shirt that left literally nothing to the imagination. The way those muscles rippled and force the shirt to move with them... Well, it was enough to make any teenage girl swoon.

Kiba had not swooned. He had... Merely looked at the hard mass of muscle for a little bit... But no matter what Akamaru might argue, Kiba had not gawked at Hidan like a bitch in heat. He had merely observed the tight muscle for a small while... Not much, though...

To add to Hidan's change of appearance were two more things. A leather jacket that, for some reason he could not understand, made Kiba's imagination run wild with all kinds of images of Hidan taking said article off...

If anyone were to hear his inner monologue, they'd think he was nothing more than a horny teenager.

But, even though Kiba managed to keep his staring to a bare minimum because of both those articles of clothing, there was something completely different to them that made the boy stare openly.

A large scythe.

Kiba had seen many weapons before in his life. But never had he witnessed one that exuded this much power and grace. Which, now that he thought about it, made no sense because it was Hidan's scythe.

The large weapon rested lazily over both of the man's shoulders, his arms dangling over its' sides as if it weren't more than a simple stick or baseball bat. The way he carried himself and carried the weapon was both careless and confident and for some reason Kiba found the sight incredibly interesting.

"I'm back!" Hidan called with a smile as he walked up to the camp site, Akamaru bouncing up beside him in clear amusement.

Okay, maybe Hidan wasn't that much of an old man...

Kiba shook his head rapidly to try and dispel those thoughts, then smiled at the man. "Get everything you needed?"

These thoughts made no sense to him. But he would be a fool to try and ignore the way that Hidan's body was made. He was handsome. He was also pretty strong and sure of himself. All three points that didn't make him ugly in Kiba's eyes.

Besides, what was the problem with looking?

"I sure did." Hidan answered the teenager as he walked towards the kid, eyes softening slightly as he did so.

Hidan was an odd one. He had been smiling so cockily a few minutes ago, back before he had noticed Kiba was looking at him. Why did his cockiness seem to fade as soon as he knew Kiba was looking at him?

Hidan's odd moods were, of course, odd to Kiba. But he could see some form of amusement in playing with them.

"So, want some lunch?" Kiba asked, motioning to the pot over the fire. "We're gonna eat, then head out on the open road." He explained.

"Alright." Hidan answered simply, then moved the scythe from resting on his shoulders to leaning against his side, all the while placing a hand on his hip. "What's there to eat?"

  
The journey back to the village proved to be... Eventful.

Traveling with Hidan was rather amusing. The man's mood would change depending on who he was talking to. Even though he was a complete jackass when he growled at Shino- complete with all kinds of swear words and threats to sacrifice the bug nin to Jashin- he was almost a gentleman to Hinata. He barely swore when around the purple haired girl and talked to her as if she were an actual human.

The fact that he acted so different when around his friends made Kiba both confused and amused.

But he guessed he shouldn't really be surprised. In the time they had been together, Kiba had been able to piece a few things about Hidan.

First of all, the man was overly religious. It was always 'Lord Jashin' this or 'Lord Jashin' that. On more than one occasion Kiba had been on the scolded side of Hidan's rant against heathens, but he wasn't really bothered by it. Hidan was always using the god's name, but had yet to try and shove his propaganda down the boy's throat. And while he had tried to convert Kiba and Hinata on more than one occasion, he had not been overly annoying about his beliefs. He never tried to convert Shino, though, and when Kiba asked about that, the old man had merely stated: 'I don't like the kid. He can burn in the after life... You and Hinata, on the other hand...' And had promptly tried to convert Kiba once more.

Something else Kiba had noticed was how the man always seemed to try and keep Kiba in good spirits. When they were walking and Kiba said something that upset Shino, the man would tell Kiba Shino was being a hardass and make the boy smile. Whenever Shino kicked his ass during training sessions, the man would stand a few feet away with a large grin on his face and root for Kiba to kick the bug bastard's ass. And when Kiba wound up being injured for actually trying to defeat Shino, Hidan would help treat his wounds while calling him an idiot for either having fallen for one of Shino's traps or for going left when Hidan yelled to go right.

One thing that stirred up great amusement in Kiba, though, was the fact that Hidan was basically a bastard and a jackass to anyone that wasn't one of Kiba's teammates. Whenever they found themselves crossing through a town to get some supplies, the man would glare at anyone that dared look at any of them and had even threatened more than one shop keep with his scythe for trying to steal from the genin.

Quite frankly, Kiba found Hidan to be a complete weirdo. But he knew that he truly enjoyed his company and kind of loved the fact that he was so protective of Team 8.

And the last thing Kiba knew for certain about Hidan was how the man always seemed to blush when Kiba happened to show some skin. Even though the man acted like a macho man that was always in control, it seemed that he became a stuttering mess whenever Kiba ended up in a 'compromising' position. And Kiba loved to use this whenever he could.

A day or so ago, Kiba had come across a waterfall in their travels. And while Hinata and Shino prepared their dinner, Kiba, Hidan, and Akamaru had all gone to the body of water to start washing up. At first, Hidan had seemed hesitant about going with Kiba, but then they had managed to convince him to go with them. And when they reached the water, Kiba began to strip.

When he was down to his underwear, he noticed the tense silence that had fallen. This was odd, because Hidan usually always filled in whatever silence there was with whatever dumb words he could think of without putting any real thought into what he was saying. But when the boy turned around to face Hidan, he could see why the man wasn't in any position to be talking.

The man's face was the reddest Kiba had ever seen. Actually, it kind of reminded him of Hinata whenever she fainted because of Naruto being too close. His body was stiff and his hands were clenched tightly into fists at his sides.

"Hidan?" Kiba asked, slowly walking towards the man.

And the most unusual thing happened. Hidan began to walk backwards. For each step Kiba took forward, Hidan took one back. And that small dance continued until Hidan found himself with his back right against a tree and Kiba only a few steps away.

It was as he saw Hidan trying to flatten himself against the tree that Kiba understood what was happening.

"Does my being naked bother you?" Kiba asked with a smirk, taking yet another step forward.

If Kiba had had normal hearing then, he would not have heard the small squeak that escaped Hidan. But because he was an Inuzuka, he had been able to hear just that squeak and his smirk became predatory.

So Hidan was bothered by an almost naked Kiba. He could use this.

"Not at all, you bastard!" Hidan tried to save face, glaring at the younger male. "But... I... Uh... I remembered I promise Hinata something!" He shouted hastily, and before Kiba could try and stop him, the man was gone and racing back to the camp grounds.

Kiba was left standing in the same spot as he blinked slowly at the retreating man, then a bark of laughter escaped him. Who knew Hidan could act like a blushing virgin?

After that Kiba had begun to test just how far he could push Hidan before the man fled. The next morning during breakfast the dog nin had seated himself in front of Hidan and stretched out with his legs wide open and his arms to either side behind him. Then, when Hinata and Shino were both doing whatever it was that they did during the mornings, Kiba had moved his right arm from behind him to trail his hand from the top of his jacket all the way down, unzipping it at the same time and opening it to show Hidan his unclothed chest.

The man's face had quite literally resembled a tomato as his eyes followed Kiba's hand down his body. Then when he had been awarded with the teenager's tanned and muscular body, he had choked on his breakfast.

Kiba had scrambled up and gone to him immediately to help him dislodge the food from his throat, even though he was doing that barking laugh of his the whole time. When Shino asked what had happened, Hidan had only glared at the bug nin before cursing young dog nins.

Now the group of teenagers and one old man were only a few hours away from their village's walls. And Hidan was acting a bit strangely.

Kiba found himself a bit worried about the man as they set up their camp. It was already night and Shino had deemed resting for the night and returning to their village in the morning would be best for everyone.

Instead of entertaining Akamaru or helping Kiba with his tent like he usually did, Hidan had excused himself and wandered off into the dense foliage of the forest some time ago. On the inside, Kiba worried that he was the reason why Hidan was acting so weirdly. But he also couldn't believe that wholeheartedly because Hidan had been acting pretty fine up until Hinata had announced how close they were to the Hidden Leaf.

With a sigh, Kiba patted Akamaru's head and looked down at him. "You know what's wrong with him?"

The dog barked and accused Kiba of playing games with the man's head, but the teen only scoffed at the dog. "It's not that, boy." Kiba told him with a glare, then sighed, "It's got to be something else. Even though he blushed when I did that..." Kiba drifted off as he remembered what he had done during breakfast, "But he was fine after that. He even yelled at Shino to stop being such a bastard after that... No, Akamaru, he got weird when Hinata told us we were so close to home."

Akamaru barked at him, telling the boy that maybe he was right, but before Kiba could smirk and snark back at the dog, movement to his left caught his attention.

Standing up immediately from his crouched state, the boy looked at Shino and Hinata, who had both noticed the movement. "You guys saw that, right?" He asked his friends, who both nodded but said nothing else.

Kiba sniffed at the air, but couldn't smell anything weird. There were Shino's and Hinata's scents mixed in with that of the forest and Hidan. Hidan... His scent was near.

"Hidan?" He called into the forest, taking a step towards where he had seen the leaves dance. "Are you trying to prank us? Because that would be pretty fucking stupid."

Kiba had picked up a bit of Hidan's bad habits while with him.

But there was no answer. The man didn't answer.

Kiba's eyes narrowed immediately. If it really had been Hidan, then the man would have ruined any surprise attack by yelling out that he was not stupid.

"This doesn't feel right." Shino muttered softly and Kiba nodded, taking a few steps back so he was standing in a back-to-back circle with his friends. "Stay alert." Shino instructed, all the while he raised his hands into a defensive stance.

After the bug nin had said this, the small group kept their silence while they surveyed the area nearby for whoever it was that was playing tricks on them. When Hinata activated her Byakugan, the girl gasped softly and narrowed her eyes.

"Whoever is out there, it's just one person."

Suddenly a type of battle cry broke through the stillness of the night and a large man jumped out of the treeline, a large, mace-like club held high above his head as he aimed a hit straight for the group of teenagers.

"Scatter!" Kiba shouted and managed to just dodge out of the way of the attack before the club dug into the spot he had been standing before, cracking through the ground and sending particles of dirt flying.

"Where is he?!" The huge man shouted in an deep voice, all the while he straightened his stance and began to life his club once more. "Where is Hidan!?"

Kiba's eyes narrowed at the man's query and jumped away to fall into attack stance with Akamaru landing on top of his back. "I don't know who you are, but you just attacked the wrong group of teenagers, bud!"

And the fight began.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hidan's POV:_

He should never have agreed to accompany the genin back to their village.

As a devout follower of Lord Jashin, the only feelings Hidan had ever experienced before were devotion to his god and anger with heretic bastards. Well, he had also felt happiness in working for his Lord's wishes, sadness when he hadn't been able to deliver, and even excitement at the idea of pleasing his god, but all those feelings he had felt had always had one common denominator. They all came to him out of his devotion to Lord Jashin.

Never before in his life had Hidan found himself feeling something for another human being, though. His parents were an idiotic blotch in his past that he barely even thought about, while he had never really come across any friends in his life. All of the people he ever interacted in his life with were either fellow followers of Jashin or very fortunate sacrifices to his Lord.

Then the Kiba kid had crash landed into his life and made Hidan _feel_ something.

Pride. Embarrassment. Humiliation. Annoyance. Lust. Excitement. Wrath. Indifference. Exasperation. And _so many more_.

To be a man that had only ever felt because of his religious before, Hidan was feeling rather overwhelmed with all the feelings that came from being around the lovable idiot known as Kiba Inuzuka. And not only did he feel because of the mutt, but also because of the ever annoying genin he had surrounded himself with.

Shino was a bug that needed to be squashed and sacrificed to Lord Jashin as soon as possible.

Hinata, on the other hand, deserved to be persuaded into the light and see the salvation that came from believing in Lord Jashin. Sure, her soul was a bit too kind to go on a murderous killing spree to draw blood for their savior, but Hidan was sure he could at least convince her to slap a crying kid every now and then in the name of Lord Jashin.

Akamaru was... Alright. Hidan had always kept animals at a distance because Lord Jashin's teachings told of respecting nature and only taking what was needed for food and clothes. But animals had always hated Hidan and he'd always hated them, so he had just kept a safe distance from most animals most of the times. Then this mutt decided that apparently Hidan was the world's best chew toy or something because he barely ever allowed Hidan a moment of rest if Kiba was busy not paying attention to him.

And Kiba himself... Hidan never really knew what to think of the young Inuzuka. The teenager had at first seemed so adamant to not have Hidan near him... Yet, nowadays, he seemed more than eager to become closer to the older male. Which caused Hidan to both be gladdened and terrified.

He couldn't grow any closer to Kiba than they already were. They would joke around about anything, they'd talk about anything that came to mind, and they'd even share a few silences before Hidan filled it up. And Hidan was more than content to maintain the type of companionship they had managed to form between each other. He had been content to just be around the boy.

... Hidan sighed at this thought as he raised up his head to look at the night sky.

 _Had been_. Past tense. Then the boy had decided that getting naked around Hidan was _nothing bad_ and now Hidan's overactive mind was always filled with images of muscled yet lithe chests and perky butts.

This would be no problem if Kiba was any older. Or if Hidan was any younger. But seeing how Hidan was a full seven years older than the Inuzuka, he knew that nothing but problems would come to him. And he'd received the brunt of all conflict because he would be the pervert trying to seduce an innocent, fifteen year old genin that didn't know enough about the world yet to be caught in such deviant relationships.

With a frown, Hidan couldn't help but scoff at that idea. Kiba being innocent and a virgin. Sure, if that kid was a virgin, then Hidan was a fucking heretic!

Still, he knew that no matter what village he wound up in, a relationship between he and that kid would be looked down on with disdain. He was a grown man for Jashin's sake! He shouldn't be enticing and seducing someone so young!

Oh, if only people could have seen what Hidan had. If only others could see his memories and see how seductive the little shit could be whenever he wanted to. And, while at it, he wished they could also see how well Hidan had behaved even with the kid coming onto him the way he had! Hidan had just about kept his hands to himself, no matter how alluring those hips were!

"Fuck..." The man grunted at the thought of the kid's hips once more, "I'm going insane!"

He had left the kids back in the campsite to be able to try and clear his thoughts. Not only that, but he had also left Kiba behind to try and come up with a logical answer as to why he had agreed to accompanying the children all the way back to Konoha.

He was a Missing Nin! He had massacred a good portion of his neighbors before he left! There was no way that Konoha had _not_ heard about his dangerous exploits at this point!

Even if he was somehow able to enter the village with the teenagers, he would have to leave them eventually. Even though genin and chunin level Shinobi may have no idea about the Bingo Book and S-Ranked Criminals, jonins would be up to date on every single name, photo, and bounty in that book. Eventually someone would figure out who Hidan was and that would be the end of his small career as a genin team's resident loud mouth.

Transformation jutsus had never been his forté... Unfortunately he would not be able to fool anyone into believing he was just another civilian from a far away village seeking some refuge in the Hidden Leaf before continuing on his way.

Why did he have to be so attracted to that kid?

Right... The eyes.

With each passing day, Hidan found himself further enraptured in those eyes. They were so warm and open. The kid's emotions were all able to be deciphered by looking into his eyes with just a bit of attention. And, for some reason, Hidan found beauty in this.

This coming from a guy that had previously believed beauty could only come from massacring heathens and offering their hearts to his Lord.

His life had taken a huge twist and the silver haired man was not completely sure how to take it... _Then again_ , he had always been the kind to trust wholeheartedly in his religion. And he had to have been given Kiba for a reason. His Lord worked in mysterious ways. And, actually, after working so hard to sacrifice so many for Lord Jashin, he really shouldn't be surprised if he was finally receiving compensation for all of his hard work. You know, more. He _was_ immortal, after all, because of his great Lord.

As he thought about how his Lord would never steer him wrong, Hidan's ears picked up the faint sound of drilling. Normally, he would have ignored a random sound in the middle of a forest like that because he never cared enough to _care_. But he heard that type of noise before. When he had seen Kiba and Akamaru practicing their Fang Over Fang technique.

The man's eyes narrowed immediately at the implication of his newest thoughts. The kid wouldn't be using his jutsu so late in the night for no reason. Either Bug Freak was getting killed, or the genin were in trouble.

Getting up from his perch on a fallen tree, Hidan grabbed his scythe and ran back to the camping grounds. The closer he got, the more distinct and clearer the fighting noises that came from that direction became. And when he was just a few feet away, about to burst through the foliage that hid the fighting that was occurring before him, he heard something that made him see red.

Kiba's yell for Akamaru made whatever sense of self preservation inside of Hidan vanish. Without any thought about being stealthy because he did not know the full situation, the silver haired man jumped right into what was a fray of a large man with a giant club taking on Hinata and Shino, all the while Kiba had been knocked to the side. Akamaru was nowhere to be seen.

All teenagers had superficial wounds on them. And while he didn't really care all that much about the Aburame kid, Hinata and Kiba's wounds made Hidan promise his Lord a sacrifice tonight. Yet at the sight of no Akamaru anywhere nearby, Hidan knew one thing was certain. And that was that he would certainly be enjoying tonight's sacrifice.

"Bug Freak, Hinata, move!" Hidan commanded as his flaming eyes focused on the large, black haired man that had been stupid enough to actually attack the genin. "Lord Jashin, accept my humble offering!"

His three bladed scythe came down on the man's head, but was, unfortunately, stopped by the large club. But Hidan had never been the kind to give up easily. And his cursed technique needed the blood of the sufferer. So he released his right hand's grip on his scythe and punched the man's large head, causing it to whip to the side at the impact.

"Fucking retarded heathenist piece of crap!" Hidan shouted as he maneuvered his weapon with his left hand, twisting his whole body to the right to build up enough momentum for another swipe at the man.

Even though the ugly brute of a man seemed a bit on the slow side, he was able to move out of Hidan's range before any of his scythe's blades were able to nick him. When Hidan landed on the ground, he was seething and his eyes were ablaze.

"The fuck do you think you're doing attacking these kids? If you were so fucking eager to be sent up to divine judgement, ignorant infidel, you should have come directly to me, you ass faced son of a bitch!"

Behind him, he could just hear Hinata swoon at his use of so many curse words. But at the moment, he couldn't care about something as superficial as his crass use of the English language. He needed to beat this fucker for hurting Kiba and Akamaru.

The man took a second to regain his composure, then heaved his club up onto his shoulder and glared at Hidan, all the while pointing a fucking disgusting finger at the silver haired man. "I want your head, Hidan! It's worth a lot of money!"

All of Hidan's movements stopped for a second after his shout. Was this guy serious? Had he really attacked this camp of genin for _money_?! Oh, Hidan was going to give him an ass whooping.

"The fuck would I give a single shit?!" He shouted, moving to grip his scythe with his right hand while his left went up to his head to smack it lightly. "Is there anything in that giant hollow dome you call a head? Can't be a brain, though! You're too Jashin damned retarded to have one!" Then he stopped once more, and moved his hand to his hip, "Can you even read, Shit Head? I'm immortal, bitch. You can't kill me."

But the dumb lug only shook his head, "Bounty said you were just lying 'bout that. It's a good cover story, though, I can give you that."

"H-Hidan... Please, be careful."

Hinata's slightly gasping voice, admittedly, made Hidan's murderous rage subside a little bit. He was in front of both Shino and Hinata at the moment. And he didn't want to scare them away with his cursed technique. If they ran, they would take Kiba with them. He wasn't about to play hero just to have Kiba taken away from him!

"Go to Kiba! I can take care of this idiot!" Hidan called to Hinata, trying to keep his mouth from spewing further obscenities while addressing the girl. Before he even knew if the kid were going to listen to him, the man turned back to the brute and smiled. "Bounty on my head, huh? Why don't we play a small game? If you win, you get your money. If I win, Lord Jashin gets a new soul."

"The hell is Jashin?"

Hidan's smile turned into a vicious smirk at this, then he hefted his scythe up onto his shoulder and took one step back. "The only chance you had at salvation... _But_ , you're a fucking bitch faced idiot, so..." Then he lunged as fast as he could at the man, aiming his blades right at his neck.

The man's eyes widened and he moved to dodge, but right at the last second Hidan moved his attack from aiming at his neck to aiming at his chest. Seeing how the man had raised his arms and club up to protect his neck, his chest had been left unprotected. And when Hidan unabashedly slashed at his chest, his scream was like music to the man's ears.

Unfortunately for him, the usual ritual procedure could not take place. Not if he wanted to keep Kiba around without being completely terrified of him. But as he slashed away at the man, Hidan murmured the prayers he had uttered many times before in other, less rushed kills. Once he got to the end of the prayer line, the silver haired man raised his scythe right above the man's unsuspecting head, cried, "Lord Jashin, please accept my humble offering!" and drove the blades right into the man's neck.

His large body fell to the floor with a sickening thud, all the while the head was sent flying from the impact. With a soft smile, Hidan raised his left hand to his prayer beads and touched lightly at his amulet, knowing Lord Jashin would be pleased after tonight.

He knew he had slacked off on the offering part of his beliefs, but he knew that sacrificing a brute like this would be appease his lord.

Sharply turning around on his heels, Hidan made his way towards where he had last seen Kiba and found only Hinata with him. When he was close enough to the two, he lowered his scythe onto the ground and crouched down without the weapon in his hands. "How is he?"

"He will be okay." Hinata answered back softly, hands on Kiba's chest, pressing and prodding. "He has a few bruised ribs and I believe one is broken."

Hidan grunted at that news, good mood souring, then asked, "And Bug Freak?"

"Shino kun went to look for Akamaru... H-Hidan?"

The man had been focused on Kiba's face. He was unconscious now, which made Hidan internally begin to worry about head injuries and possible death. But Hinata calling for him snapped the man out of his frenzied thoughts.

"Yeah?"

Her innocent and violet eyes turned to him now, filled with curiosity and worry. Hidan was not sure if it was his fault or more directed at Kiba.

"W-where did you learn h-how to fight like th-that?" Hinata managed to ask, actually surprising Hidan.

He had never seen her as the kind to pry. But the question still made his heart sink slightly and he sighed in thought. He honestly had no idea what he should answer.

With a shake of his head, he merely stated, "Kiba's condition is more urgent." before he moved forward to really make sure that Kiba only had one broken rib.


	6. Chapter 6

_Kiba's P.O.V.:_

The man that came looking for Hidan was a monster. He was more brute strength than actual human and he had decimated Kiba and Akamaru quickly. And if it hadn't been enough that he had not only managed to dodge their Fang Over Fang attack and stop it at another point, the man had thrown Akamaru clear through their campsite and out of Kiba's view. Then, once Akamaru was nowhere to be seen, he'd punched Kiba so hard that he'd crashed against a tree and cracked its trunk, all the while his head spun at the impact.

Quite frankly, Kiba really wanted to know just why someone with that destructive caliber had come after an idiot like Hidan. Because, seriously, getting beaten up and knocked out of the action while your teammates were still faced with a very much dangerous threat _sucked_.

Unfortunately, crashing against that tree's trunk after having used his Fang Over Fang attack twice had meant he was knocked unconscious while his teammates were left alone with the brute.

Fortunately, though, Hidan had come running in like a madman- neither Hinata nor Shino explained it like this, but Kiba totally imagined the silver haired man running like an idiot into the fighting- and had apparently dispatched of the man seeking his head.

Apparently, the man had been seeking to cash in on a bounty on Hidan's head and Kiba couldn't help but begin to wonder just why Hidan would have a bounty on him.

The man seemed to be about as competent as a newborn babe... Nothing close to being a criminal mastermind or dangerous rogue ninja, which were the norm for most bounties.

When the Inuzuka had woken up, he had found himself resting against a comfortable warmth. His mind had swam uncomfortably and his eyes strained to focus, but one he had been able to focus on what he was seeing, he couldn't help himself but smile. He wasn't completely sure, but he had reason to believe that Hidan had slept underneath Kiba the whole night, with a protective arm wrapped around the younger male's bandaged waist.

But instead of commenting on the fact that Hidan seemed to not have let him go through the night, Kiba decided to just enjoy the warmth that came from the other body and allowed himself to be lulled to sleep once more. He could deal with the questions in his head later. Then, once he awoke the second time, he found a distinct lack of warmth against him, but didn't have much time to process it before Hinata was on him and asking him if he felt alright or weird.

As Hinata had asked him about his state, Kiba noticed that Shino and Hidan both stood off to the side of the campground. It was then that he had noticed that the campsite seemed to have changed. Shino explained that they hadn't wanted to sleep too close to a dead body and left it at that. After that, neither his teammates nor Hidan seemed to keen on explaining in just what state the dead body had been left in for them to move away.

Luckily, Akamaru hadn't received any major wounds. Neither had Shino nor Hinata. So of Team 8, only Kiba had received any truly worrying injuries, and even then, they had been mild. He had been so fine, actually, that they had been able to set out for Konoha on the very morning after being attacked by that bounty hunter.

"So, just what happened to that guy?" Kiba asked for what seemed to be the umpteenth time, earning an annoyed grunt from Shino, an exasperated sigh from Hinata, and a deathly glare from Hidan. Akamaru, on the other hand, looked up intently at the other tree humans, also wanting to know what happened. "Oh, come on! I wasn't able to see what happened! I just know that Hidan came in and the guy was beaten up! But you didn't tell me anything more aside from that!"

"Hidan dealt with him, Kiba. There really is not more to say." Shino tried to reason, but Kiba shook his head.

"You mean to tell me that Hidan is actually not completely useless?" Kiba asked, then shook his head at the sneer sent his way by the insulted man. "Oh, you know what I mean, old man! All you ever do is curse, preach, insult, and eat! I've never seen you train once, nor swing that scythe around for more than a threat to a poor store owner."

"Hey! That jackass deserved it!" Hidan bit back, then placed one hand on his hip as the other held the scythe in place over his shoulders. "He was going to charge us extra for food just because he decided your dog counted as a fifth person!" The loud mouth defended himself, and Kiba smiled softly.

Even with the dark mood that seemed to have descended on the three others, Hidan still more than capable enough to lighten the mood.

"Okay, maybe you have a point there... But that doesn't erase the fact that we've never once seen you actually do anything fight-wise with that scythe of yours." Kiba pressed on, eager to find out just what Hidan had done to get rid of the guy that had come looking for him. "I want to know just what you did to managed to ensure our team's safety!"

"Kiba, the man was defeated." Shino answered monotonously, barely sparing his riled up teammate a glance. "Must you question and argue everything?"

"Why, yes, Shino, I must." Kiba answered back in a deadpan, giving the Aburame a cold stare before turning to Hinata. "Oh, come on, Hinata! Tell me how you guys managed to beat him up, _please_! I know Shino was at a bit of a disadvantage with the guy's club, but you must have been alright!"

Hinata blushed at the subtle compliments towards her close range fighting style, but only shook her head, "Shino kun is right, Kiba kun. He was defeated. And that is all that matters."

He had honestly hoped Hinata would tell him. Kiba deflated once he knew his teammates would keep their lips sealed, then crossed his arms. Without knowing it, he jutted his bottom lip out in a pout as he began to sulk.

"Keeping me in the dark... You guys are the worst teammates ever!" The dog nin groaned dramatically, but decided to remain silent.

Even though he couldn't truly understand just why his teammates refused to tell him exactly what happened, he at least knew now that Hidan wasn't completely useless. And while he really wanted to find out just what had gone wrong to keep his friends keep their lips sealed, he could understand the need to keep secrets.

He'd just have to muscle it out of Hinata or Hidan later on while Shino wasn't around.

With resolution made in his mind, Kiba began to perk up slightly and moved so he stood beside Hidan. Then, feeling rather mischievous, he poked the man's arm.

At first, Hidan didn't even acknowledge that poke. But Kiba was a resilient human being. And he began to poke the other male over and over again, causing Hidan's face to sour and show disdain as the pokes continued and became harsher.

"Hey. Hidan. Hey. Hidan. Hey. Hey." With each word, Kiba poked and Hidan's sneer grew. "Hey. Hidan. Hidan. Hey. Old man. Hey. You. Hey."

To the side, he heard Shino sigh and grumble in annoyance, but Kiba only rolled his eyes at him. He didn't care if he was being childish. Hidan wasn't talking and he was bored. So he needed to entertain himself in the walk to return to the village.

"Hidan. Hidan. Hidan. Old man. Old man. Old man. Per-"

"What in the fucking Jashin damned hell could you possibly fucking want with me, you insufferable, shit faced, bitchy, ass-"

"HIDAN!"

Both Kiba and Hidan looked at Hinata in surprise at her yell, only to find her face completely red and her eyes wide. "P-please! Do n-not cu-curse around me!"

The whole group had stopped walking at Hinata's sudden outburst, actually surprised to hear her shout out so loudly, and now Hidan and Kiba stood facing his other two teammates. Blinking at the girl, Hidan couldn't help himself.

"You didn't have to scream, Hinata." He spoke softly, although his eyes danced with mirth. "There was no real reason to freak out in that manner."

Hinata's eyes narrowed at the man's teasing, but Shino interrupted before she could say anything. "I shall go ahead to speak on Hidan's behalf to the chunin at the gates."

"Huh?" Kiba asked, actually caught off guard by this, but Shino had leapt away without giving any answer.

Which left Hidan and Hinata with a confused, curious, and nearing exasperation Kiba.

"What did he mean, Hidan?" Kiba questioned the man, who shook his head and growled.

"I happened to lose my identification papers a few stops ago... I was heading to Konoha to visit a family member of mine when I fell asleep and got robbed. Papers and everything." Hidan explained as he crossed his arms over his chest, then looked away from Kiba. "I explained this to Hinata and Shino while you were knocked out and they told me they'd help me get into Konoha the legal way."

Hinata nodded beside the man and Kiba looked at them both in surprise.

Just how much had he missed while he was knocked out? Was Hinata now going to tell her that she decided to become a stripper?

A small smile made its way onto his lips at that idea, knowing full well his shy teammate would never do something like that, but Kiba soon sobered up and looked at Hidan once more.

"If we didn't help you, would you have tried the illegal way?"

Hidan's eyes looked back into Kiba's own once more, and this time Kiba was able to see that mischievous fire in them once more. "Kiba, you know that answer as well as I do. I just shouldn't be answering it out loud in complete honesty."

This answer caused Kiba to bark in laughter, then shook his head and turned in the direction of their village.

"You're fucking hopeless, Hidan."

"Kiba!" Hinata scolded and Kiba actually jumped.

"Oh, sorry, Hinata." He turned to the girl with an apologetic smile, all the while she glared at him in annoyance. "But Hidan's a bad role model!"

"I'll show you a fuc-"

"Hidan!"

Kiba snickered at Hidan's own annoyed glare that he sent Hinata's way, all the while the girl seemed to have had enough with the constant swearing as was taking a stand. Both of them glared at one another as Kiba snickered in delight, completely amused to see such different people finally having some type of disagreement- which was new because Hinata barely ever disagreed with anyone.

"Listen, little girl, you have to understand that I'm a man." Hidan began in a commanding tone, hand on hip and attitude clear. "And as a man, I have a need to swear up and down like a Jashin dam-"

"No!" Hinata shook her head, hands balled into fists at her side. "You do not have to be disrespectful at all times, Hidan!"

Hidan growled at her, then scoffed and turned away from her. "I don't have to argue with a kid like you. Akamaru, let's go!"

The dog jumped up at hearing his name, tail beginning to wag as he noticed he was going to walk once more, then bounded after a very annoyed Hidan. The man walked away with the dog at his side, not sparing any other look at either genin behind him.

Once he was a few feet away, Kiba chuckled, "You sure showed him, Hinata!"

But his amusement was short lived when Hinata glared at him once more. "That goes to you too, Kiba kun! You should not be picking up his bad habits!"

Then the Hyuga heir walked after Hidan, leaving Kiba stunned and very much shocked.


	7. Chapter 7

_Shino's POV:_

"Please... You two _cannot_ tell Kiba about what you saw, what I did."

"And why should we keep it a secret? Kiba is a mature individual-"

Shino would have continued his argument if Hidan had not stopped him with a single look. But upon noticing the look the silver haired man was giving him, the look that clearly said 'This is Kiba' without having to use any words, Shino sighed and shook his head. Hidan was right. This _was_ Kiba. A rather immature individual that would undoubtedly make a huge deal out of Hidan being able to kill a man so easily.

Even though Shino couldn't truly see what was wrong with Hidan being able to defend himself so readily, he also found it suspicious. The moves he used and the way his body moved spoke of years of honing his abilities. And most of the probabilities of where he was able to get the training for those abilities were not the kind Shino thought would speak well of the man.

Rogue ninjas, after all, were no laughing matter.

But, even though he didn't truly enjoy Hidan's companionship, both Kiba and Hinata did. And he wasn't too eager to find out just how Kiba would react to knowing that Hidan was a liar. For it would either revolve around trying to kill Hidan or trying to get him to teach him how to fight... Two different possibilities Shino did not want to live through.

"But Hidan, we shouldn't lie to Kib-"

"Hinata, _please_. I don't ask for much! I just want you to not tell him in detail! He can know that I killed the guy and whatever, I just don't want him to have a reason to fear me..."

Hidan's voice took on a softer and sadder tone, which made Shino quirk an eyebrow at him and internally begin to wonder just why Hidan was reacting in such a composed manner.

Wasn't this the same man that had threatened many store owners with death just for seeming as if they were about to rob from Team 8? Wasn't this the same man that had just killed a man for having injured Kiba?

"I am not sure, Hidan... _Is_ there a reason for us to begin to fear you?" Shino questioned coldly, ignoring the fact that Hidan had allowed himself to be vulnerable around him.

Immediately the man's eyes inflamed and he was sneering at the bug nin, "No, you don't! I would never hurt you idiots!... No matter how much _you_ need to be sacrificed to Lord Jashin, bug breath!"

Shino didn't react at the insult and merely looked at the man with a calm gaze.

"Tell me, Hidan, what is your real reason to have accompanied us to Konoha? Why did you choose to come with us?" Shino asked, once more ignoring Hidan's feelings.

He wanted to get to the bottom of Hidan's actions. He wanted to understand why the older man would willingly join them on their return to a village that was clearly not his own. And he wanted to be able to reason why the man seemed to always grow impassioned whenever Kiba was mentioned or around.

"Why else? Because I need to get to Konoha." The man grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, pursing his lips slightly.

Shino noted that, even though they would never admit to it, both Kiba and Hidan had picked up habits from each other.

"Because that is much too vague an answer for a group of Shinobi and you know it."

Hidan glared at Shino, then rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine, you want to know so bad? I have a brother and sister that live there. I want to visit them."

"Brother and sister?" Hinata chirped from behind Shino, making the man look at her with softer eyes.

Sometimes, it bothered Shino how Hidan seemed to fall over backwards when it came to Kiba and Hinata, but only seemed to hold hate for him. Then he'd think about how much an idiot the man truly was and he wasn't so bothered anymore.

"Yes, Hinata. I was separated from them when I was a kid... My parents sold them or something, can't truly remember." Hidan waved his hand at that, as if what he was saying wasn't all that important, "And I kind of want to see how they're doing..." Then he stopped for a moment and breathed out heavily, "But I'm starting to think I won't be able to reunite with them."

Shino was intrigued. And Hinata more so, for she was the one to prod Hidan to continue. "Why do you say that?"

"Because my ID was stolen before I even met you kids! I was planning on bluffing my way through the gates or something... But now that I've gotten to think about it, that plan wasn't too smart."

"Not at all." Shino answered dryly, then shook his head. "Why did you not tell us when we met? We would not have allowed you to come with us if you truly aren't of Konoha."

"Shino!" Hinata gasped at his harsh words, at the same time Hidan growled out, "Bug breath!"

With a sigh, the teen only turned to Hinata. "Would you truly risk your genin status to help this slacker get into our village? Hinata, he may be an agent of another country. We might be bringing the enemy home."

"I am no enemy, bug breath!" Hidan shoved his way back into the conversation with a glare. "If I were, I would have not helped you guys and instead lounged around while you fought off the bad guy."

"Or you could have helped us to gain our favor." Shino rebutted, making the silver haired man bristle.

"Listen here, you fucking inconsiderate son of a b-"

Hidan's curse was interrupted by Shino having a bug fly into his mouth, making him choak on his own words. The man coughed and glared at the bug nin, then took a step forward.

"You little shit!"

"Shino, Hidan, please, calm down." Hinata pleaded from the side, eyes wide, "We are all friends here. Shino, you do not have to be so wary of him. Hidan has proven time and again to be our ally! And Hidan, stop pushing Shino all the time!" Hinata pleaded softly, then pointed at the sky. "The sun is coming... Can we please just go to Kiba and then head back on our way home?"

Both males grumbled but relented.

~/~

The confrontation between himself and Hidan had made Shino begin to truly wonder just what the man's intentions were.

Why would a trained individual from another land want to come to Konoha if it wasn't to bring it to its' knees? Because the whole story of going there to visit a brother and sister barely made any sense to Shino. Not when it came to an individual like Hidan. He was much too cold and detached to ever truly care about someone that he has been apart from for so long.

But, no matter how much he didn't want to trust Hidan, he had to admit that he had been a beneficial ally to have. He had taken care of the monster of a man that would have given both Hinata and Shino a run for their money... Even though he had also been the reason why they had been attacked.

As he neared the gates of Konoha, Shino couldn't help but begin to worry about his friends and Hidan. Because even though he didn't like the man, he knew his friends did.

He could just hope that he didn't end up breaking their hearts.

* * *

_Hidan's POV:_

When the group of three finally arrived to the gates of their village, they found Shino standing there with two chunins waiting behind him. One had wild black hair and bandages across his face, while the other had his metal protector on a bandanna that kept his hair brown hair down.

"Did you talk with them, Shino?" Kiba asked as soon as they were withing listening range, receiving a slight nod from the bug nin.

And Hidan couldn't help but feel his heart begin to beat rapidly and his stomach churn.

He _really_ wanted to get into the village. He wanted to be able to stay around Kiba for a little while longer, if only as friends. He wanted to allow himself some happiness before he continued on his way to sate his god's needs.

And he hadn't been lying when he spoke to Shino and Hinata about his reasons for coming to the village. He could vaguely remember his siblings having been sold to Konoha as part of an agreement of some kind between his parents and some mercenaries. Now, this being the main reason he had come was a blatant lie. But this excuse should have been good and sad enough to get the Konoha pansies to listen to him.

Great, even his internal monologue had been cleaned up after Hinata had yelled at him and Kiba.

Couldn't he have one day of unlimited swearing? Not if he was around the Hyuga...

"You are Hidan?" The chunin with the brown hair stepped forward to meet with the group of three, looking the silver haired man over.

Hidan nodded softly and lowered his scythe so it was beside Kiba, then motioned for the kid to take it. Kiba did so without a single question, apparently understanding what Hidan meant. He couldn't have a weapon in his hands at this point. Not if he didn't want the Leaf Village's Shinobi to think he was about to attack.

"No last name?" The one with the out of control black hair questioned, also stepping forward.

Blinking softly, Hidan shook his head softly, "Not really... Parents weren't big fans of kids, if you know what I mean."

Both men looked at one another at Hidan's nonchalant tone, then the brown haired one spoke up again. "Shino here told us that you were here looking for long lost siblings. How are you going to find them if you don't have a shared last name?"

This caused the silver haired man to groan and shake his head, "Even if I did have a last name, do you think they would have kept it after all these years? They were barely able to walk when they were sold. Besides, even if by some miracle they knew their last name, they would _not_ have it if they lived here. They wouldn't use it because the village where I come from, everyone literally knows everyone."

The explanation made some sense, at least in Hidan's mind. And it wasn't a lie. That was how things just went back home... But he honestly could not remember his last name.

Maybe that was a price of immortality...

"We should take you to the Hokage to help you out with your search." The black haired one muttered after thinking for some time, which made the one with the brown hair nod.

"Yeah, he's right. Team 8, go ahead and finish up your mission report. We'll take care of Hidan for now."

Kiba seemed as if he wanted to argue about leaving the man, but Hidan spoke up before the kid could say anything, "Go ahead. Oh, and take care of that for me. I don't want to see a single scratch when I get it back."

Kiba looked down at the scythe now in his hands then up at Hidan and nodded.

Then the three genin and dog walked into the village, leaving Hidan with whom he deemed Dumbass Number One and Dumbass Number Two.

Heh... At least he could swear now that Hinata wasn't around.


	8. Chapter 8

_Kiba's P.O.V.:_

"He left you the scythe... Did he want you to get yourself killed?"

"Do you really have to be such a jerk at all times, bug breath?" Kiba growled back at his teammate with a glare poised at him, all the while Shino merely continued walking without a single glance at the dog nin.

"Y-you should be careful with that, Kiba kun." Hinata mumbled from beside Kiba, which made the Inuzuka glance at her with annoyance.

"Not you too, Hinata! I think I can carry a scythe well enough! It's not like I'm going to cut myself with it!" He shouted out, making Shino shake his head.

"The worry is not you cutting yourself. The worry is you accidentally cutting mine or Hinata's heads off." The bug nin explained calmly, which made Kiba turn to him.

As soon as Hinata could see Kiba turning to Shino, she squeaked and jumped away from the triple blades heading her way, the scythe being held up on Kiba's shoulders in much the same manner Hidan usually carried it. The problem with this was that Hidan was a tall man and would never accidentally hurt any of them with the weapon on his shoulders, but Kiba was their height. Kiba holding it in the same manner meant that Shino and Hinata found themselves having to jump out of the blades' range whenever he moved.

"Ah, you worry too much, bug breath." Kiba closed his eyes as he waved off Shino's worries, "Hey, are any of you hungry? I could go for some good steak."

"Did I hear steak?" A new voice spoke up from behind the group of three, which made them all stop and turn around. "Let's go together! I could really use some food right now!"

With a blush dusting her cheeks, Hinata smiled softly at the person that had spoken and waved shakily in his direction, "H-Hi, Ch-Choji k-kun."

"Hey, Hinata! What's this I hear about going for lunch?" The plump teenager asked as he walked up to Team 8, his ever present bag of chips held tightly in one hand while a large smile covered his face.

"Is that really all you care about, Choji?" Ino growled from a few steps behind her teammate, blue eyes narrowed, "You _just_ had a snack!"

And lagging behind them both was Shikamaru, with his eyes closed and hands laced behind his head, holding it up. "Stop being so troublesome, Ino. Let the man eat." He groaned tiredly, which caused the teenage girl to turn to him and glare.

"You have no say in this, Shikamaru!" The girl shouted, then turned to Choji once more. "Is food the only thing on your mind, Choji?

"But I'm hungry, Ino!"

Rolling his eyes at the team's dynamics, Kiba smiled broadly and waved at Choji, "Then come on! Akamaru and I are starving!"

"Let's go!" Choji cheered and ran off beside Kiba before Ino could stop him, which left the other four teenagers staring after them.

* * *

_Hidan's POV:_

Konoha was very different from his own village. Everything was tightly compacted, there seemed to be almost no space between buildings, and there were _way_ too many people running around the streets. His own village was a bit less congested and there was actual space to be found among living spaces. The people were- usually- annoyingly nice, but Hidan hadn't hated it _too much_.

He just despised the fact that the village chose to let go of its power and pursue peace in the fucked up world they live in.

Apparently, Dumbass One and Two both had actual names. But Hidan couldn't be bothered with learning them yet so he just took to calling them Rags and Bandages to their face, while Dumbass One and Dumbass Two in his mind.

It seemed that Hinata's kindness had rubbed off on him... Normally, he would have just called them idiots to their face. But there was something inside of him telling him to not be a complete jerk, so he instead resorted to the less insulting nicknames.

With an exasperated sigh, Hidan walked behind the two males with his hands shoved into his pockets. The one with the spiky blonde hair had yet to shut up about whatever he was talking about, while the other one laughed every now and then at whatever had been said... Quite frankly, Hidan would have sacrificed these two virgins- because there was no way these two _weren't_ virgins- if he wasn't supposed to be following them now.

Actually... He would have killed them if not for the threat of being kicked out of the village immediately after doing so. He wouldn't get too far with killing these guys, though. From what he had been able to see, the whole village was surrounded by shinobi both hidden and in plain sight. Killing them would bring forth a chase that he could just not be bothered with now.

Well... He should at least look at the bright side: Not only had he been able to enter the Hidden Leaf Village- a feat that no other ninja that wasn't from this very village had ever accomplished to do without express permission from said village- but he had also been able to spend more time with Kiba and now even had a chance to reconnect with the brother and sister he had lost early on in his childhood.

Forget the fact that he was a missing nin strolling into the Hokage's office without his most efficient weapon, he was going to be fine!

When they reached the Hokage's office, Hidan was surprised to find a busty blonde seating at the only desk in the room, a dark haired woman standing beside her with a tray of tea in her hands.

"Excuse us, Lady Tsunade." Dumbass One greted respectfully with a curt nod at the woman, "But Team 8 brought someone who's circumstances we thought it would be wise to explain to you before making any decisions."

The interruption caused the woman with the bright blue eyes to look up from all of her work and up to the men that had just entered the room. And from the way her eyes widened slightly at the sight of Hidan, the man knew that at least his looks had caught her attention.

"Izumo, Kotetsu... What kind of circumstances could this man be under for you to leave your post?" The blonde woman questioned with an eyebrow arched, which made Dumbass Two clear his throat.

"Our shift was ending in a few minutes, anyway, Lady Hokage. Besides, this man came with an urgent plea."

Internally, Hidan rolled his eyebrows at the exaggeration of his supposed search. Clearly, these two men just didn't want to be stuck in the front gates for much longer. So they had snapped up at the first chance of being able to leave their post and do something marginally more exciting.

"Is that so?" The blonde asked, then turned her sights on Hidan. "What might be so urgent?"

It took Hidan a heartbeat or two to notice that the woman had been talking to him. But when he noticed all of the eyes on him, the odd eyed man smiled as kindly as he could and took a step forward.

"Lady Hokage, I am Hidan. I have traveled far and wide to be able to reach Konoha and find the brother and sister that were sold to this very village years ago... During my travels, some bandits took my papers of identification, which is why my circumstances are a bit more difficult than I believed they would ever be." He spoke as politely and respectfully as he could muster up, a type of unease building up in the back of his throat at how totally unusually kind he was being.

"So you're looking for long lost family members? Is that correct?" The Hokage asked Hidan with a quirked, blonde eyebrow.

"That is correct, Lady Hokage." Hidan nodded respectfully, looking at the woman levelly. "We were separated as kids and I've spent years kicking myself over and over again for not searching for them any sooner."

The blonde woman hummed in thought for a moment, then questioned, "And what village are you from?"

He had known this question was going to come up. And he knew very well that going with the truth would be sealing his fate. So, instead, Hidan decided to come up with a believable lie.

"No village. I come from a small town in the outskirts of the Land of Wind, to the western side of it. Traveling here was not as easy as I believed it would be in the beginning, if I may be honest." He forced a chuckle out, all the while trying to seem as bashful as possible.

Apparently, his acting skills weren't as bad as he thought they were because, soon enough, they were talking about helping him out.

"Could you tell us any identifying characteristics? To make finding them any easier?" Her little lapdog, the black haired woman, asked kindly.

He couldn't understand these women. He was more than sure that his face was plastered all around the bingo books. The crimes he had committed in his lifetime must have already reached Konoha... Or... Maybe... His Lord truly was great and had given him this bit of reprieve to enjoy life around Kiba, even if it was for a little while.

"Yeah! I'm sure finding people that look like you shouldn't be too difficult!" Dumbass Two piped up from behind Hidan, which made the silver haired man turn around and glare at him.

Even though he was more than confident in his abilities and looks, Hidan still did not enjoy being reminded of how truly different he looked from the rest of humanity. And he had always been the vocal kind of person.

"You mean like my almost white hair, red eyes, and pale skin?" He asked in an almost kind voice with a soft smile, only to scowl heavily and growl out, "Those are gene mutations, you bastard. Only one in a million, maybe _billion_ , ever gets born like this! My siblings are as normal looking as the rest of the people in this room."

Having heard this, Kotetsu's eyes widened and his mouth dropped, immediately feeling like a jerk. But Hidan didn't allow the man to apologize and instead continued to talk with the blonde Hokage sat before him.

"My memory of them is fuzzy at best, though. And I'm not even sure if the names I remember them having are the same they kept after having been sold." With this sentenced, he sighed dramatically, coverins his face with his hand to seem distraught beyond reason. "Finding them would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack! I don't even know why I thought it would be possible..."

"Hey now! You can't give up so easily!" Shizune cried out as she moved to stand beside the man, then placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'd be more than happy helping you find your long lost brother and sister!"

"Really?" Hidan looked up with wide eyes, trying his best to seem honest in his surprise, "You'd help me for free?"

"Of course!" Dumbass Two now stepped forward, pumping one fist forward, "It's not like we have anything better to do anyway!"

"You mean like guarding the front gates?" Tsunade interrupted the two's spirited cheers, "Or like helping your Hokage finish all of her paperwork?"

Both Shizune and Kotetsu flinched at the anger hidden withing the blonde's words, all the while Hidan inwardly snickered in amusement. Quite frankly, he should have expected this level of stupidity from the village where Kiba came from. But he still found it both amusing and kind of sad.

Yet, even with how funny he found the whole situation, the man was able to keep a straight face that portrayed nothing but slight ease.

"I mean no disrespect, Lady Hokage. Nor do I wish to take away any of your resources." Hidan told the woman, "I would be fine searching by myself."

But the woman only shook her head, "Finding a pair of siblings that look like everyone else in a village as big as this one will not be an easy feat, Hidan." The woman told him, then looked at Dumbasses One and Two. "You two are eager to move around... Alright, Kotetsu, Izumo, you two are assigned to be Hidan's guide in his search for his family. Do not expect any pay, though, as Hidan already stated he has no money."

In the back of his mind, Hidan noted that he had never said that specifically, but he had no problem with having them believe that lie. If the search for his siblings would come at no price, then he wouldn't mind actually going around actually looking for them.

Hmm... Maybe he could even get Kiba to help him out... That'd be nice.

"Sure thing, Lady Tsunade." Dumbass One smiled softly, then smacked Dumbass Two on the arm softly, "At least we'll be able to stretch our legs."

"Let's go then!" Dumbass Two's smile was even wider than Dumbass One's, which had Hidan softly regretting what he had just allowed to happen by the Hokage's decree. "Come on, Hidan. I'm sure the Hokage would like her space to finish her work."

"Alright." Hidan breathed out, then gave the women one final smile, "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me." before he turned around and walked out of the office behind Dumbasses One and Two.

This meant that he would be able to stay around for a little while longer... This meant he'd spend more time with Kiba. And this thought made Hidan's smile almost goofy.

~/~

"All we have to do, Izumo, is look closely at Hidan's face shape and find a guy that looks like him." Kotetsu told his friend as he stared intently at Hidan's face, eyes wide as he tried to drink in all the features.

Hidan looked at the man with slight unease creeping up on him, all the while Izumo merely shook his head at his friend's stupidity.

The three had been looking through the village without any set game plan about finding Hidan's siblings, and Hidan was beginning to grow annoyed with the two chunin he was stuck with.

... If only he had his scythe... Then maybe he'd be able to end his suffering...

Just when Kotetsu seemed about to suggest yet another idiot idea, Hidan was able to hear a voice he had been longing to hear for the longest of time.

"Hidan! Hey! It seems your meeting with the Hokage went well!"

A stupid smile made its way onto the silver haired man's face as he turned away from the Dumbasses and towards where the shouts had come from. And when his eyes fell on the running Kiba, the man couldn't help but move forward and open his arms up for Kiba to run into him.

Honestly, he hadn't been thinking all that much about his actions. And he hadn't even thought that Kiba would actually hug him. But when his mind caught up with his body, the boy was already hugging him tightly and he was wrapping his broad arms around the smaller male's frame.

"Kiba! Am I fucking glad to see you again!" Hidan cheered with a broad smile, earning a throaty chuckle from the other.

"Well it's a good thing I showed up when I did!"

The kid squeezed Hidan's body tightly, which in turn made the Jashinist's chest warm up like it had taken to doing whenever Kiba was around. And, for once, he didn't particularly care about how odd hugging this genin might seem. Hidan was just happy that Kiba had arrived and would be around to stop him from ripping Dumbass One and Two apart.

"Hey, Hidan, what are you guys doing?" Kiba questioned into his shoulder, and that was when Hidan remembered that Kotetsu and Izumo were behind him... And undoubtedly looking at him and Kiba in surprise.

"Looking for that brother and sister I told you about, kid." Hidan answered, loathe to let go of the kid... But he knew that he couldn't hug Kiba for much longer without it seeming odd... So, with chagrin bubbling up in his chest, he loosened his grip on the boy and set him down, then turned to the men that had been 'helping' him all afternoon. "Quite frankly, it's been rather fruitless."

"Well it's not like we even know what we're looking for!" Kotetsu pouted, earning an eye roll Izumo. "Just ignore him... Hey, Inuzuka, do family members have similar scents?"

Kiba quirked an eyebrow at the question, and Hidan noted how adorable the kid looked when confused, then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, they do! All families have a distinct scent about them, no matter the composition of the rest of the individual's own, unique smell."

The kid continued speaking about something or another, but Hidan was a bit busy just looking him over. Kiba... He'd be the death of Hidan. The kid was just too cute for his own good. And with Hidan's much-too-large scythe strapped across his back, he somehow seemed even cuter. Maybe it was because of the contrast between the deadly weapon and the adorable genin... Eh... It didn't matter... Hidan only cared about how amazing the kid looked with his hair mused and canines showcased because of his wide smile.

He was taken out of his admiration of Kiba's adorableness by the kid himself jumping up and whooping proudly.

Arching an eyebrow at the kid's sudden jump, Kiba answered Hidan's unasked question, "Of course I can help Hidan find his family! I would be more than glad to help him out!"

"Awesome!" Both Kotetsu and Izumo high fived at this, all the while they turned to Hidan. "Aren't you happy? With the Inuzuka nose, there's no way we won't be able to find your siblings!"

"Yeah. That's pretty amazing." Hidan smiled softly at this, even though he could feel his stomach dropping.

... If he found his siblings so fast... Then he'd have no reason to stay in the village for too long... Which would mean not enough time with Kiba...

Damn.


	9. Chapter 9

_Kiba's P.O.V.:_

Searching for Hidan's siblings was a bit like searching for a specific sub-set of Shino's bugs. While not completely impossible, finding Hidan's brother and sister would be an uphill battle.

Family members all had a unique signature in their scent that allowed any tracker to know who belonged to who's family tree. But, to know just who was in a family, tracker's needed to compare two different scents and find the thing they had in common. Kiba only had Hidan to go off from. No mother, no father, no cousins... Nothing.

What he would have to do with his limited resources would be take Hidan's scent and try to sniff out something similar to it. Which would lead him to more dead ends and wrong leads than to his actual object because this would not be easy at all!

But Hidan had been nothing but awesome since they had met- even when he was becoming overly flustered at Kiba's bordering on indecent exposure- and Kiba didn't mind setting a few hours of his day aside to try and help him get his family back. The guy deserved someone to make him after all. And Kiba would be more than happy to be able to spend some more time with the knuckle head.

Right now, Kiba and Akamaru were both sniffing out what they believed to be a lead on Hidan's siblings scents, all the while the man himself followed after them.

"So you don't remember them? At all?" Kiba asked as he sniffed at a scent that caught his attention to the left, but growled softly when he found an aged shopkeeper smiling back at him.

It wasn't that he was annoyed with the shopkeeper... He was just annoyed with the fact that this was the tenth person he had been led to by his nose, yet been wrong about in the end.

The old woman looked at Kiba with a quirked eyebrow, then her wrinkled eyes widened when they fell on Hidan. Then, as quickly as she could, the woman waddled into her flower shop and closed the door behind her, leaving Kiba curious as to why she would flee so suddenly after she had seemed so happy to see Kiba appear.

When Kiba turned to the man following, though, he was looking down at Kiba with an unreadable expression, apparently not having seen how the woman reacted to him. This furthered Kiba's confusion, and he asked, curiously, "Hey, Hidan... Are people generally afraid of you?"

At this, Hidan clicked his tongue slightly but looked away and up at the darkening sky.

Quite frankly, Kiba was supposed to have returned home hours ago. But after he had gone to eat with Hinata, Choji, Shino, Ino, and Shikamaru, he had wanted to look for Hidan. Even though he enjoyed having the scythe on his shoulders and feeling powerful, he knew his friends considered him too much of a threat to hang around with the weapon nearby.

Besides, he had begun to miss the old man. Hidan had become a constant in his life over the past few days, and being without him suddenly felt all sorts of wrong.

Which is why Kiba went off without his teammates to find the silver haired Jashinist. Hinata had to go back home immediately to not incur Hiashi's wrath, all the while Shino didn't care all that much for Hidan. So Kiba had set off without his teammates to see if he could meet up with the man.

And searching for him had been rather simple. The man's scent was a hair's breadth away from becoming an addiction to the young teen.

"The older generations might see me as a demon of sorts..."

Kiba's inner reverie was broken when Hidan finally spoke up.

The boy blinked in slight confusion as he was reminded of the question he had asked, then focused on the man. Hidan was still looking up at the sky, a frown now set on his face while his eyes glared at something in the distance.

"When some see me, they hide inside their homes and begin to pray to their petty gods." The man's voice was cold, something Kiba had never truly heard come from him. "They think I am an incarnate of evil on this earth. When I was a kid, I was chased out of my home money times because someone wanted to kill me in the name of purifying the lands..." Then Hidan sneered, his left fist tightening while the right hand seemed to hold on even tighter to the scythe over his shoulder. " 'Hate can only ever breed hate... Go forth and choose what to sow. But be mindful of what you are to reap.'."

The man's last words were spoken with an air of an almost echo, as if Hidan was repeating something he had heard before. And, Kiba had to admit, those didn't sound like words Hidan would use normally.

"Is that... Is that from your religion, Hidan?" Kiba asked softly, not daring to speak up.

For some reason, he felt like he was experiencing something out of this world. Hidan had never seemed to be the kind of man to prattle off scriptures of his religion. Even though he was always trying to tell Kiba and Hinata about how great Lord Jashin truly was, he had never recited anything from memory. At least, until now.

And just as suddenly as the man's reverie had begun with an innocent question, it seemed to end with another. He splayed the fingers of his left hand out, stretching them fully, as the grip on his scythe loosened. Then Hidan looked down at Kiba once more with a soft smile on his face, eyes closed, almost giving him a content feel about him.

"Yes it is, Kiba. From the Book of _Itami_ , verse 58." Hidan nodded, then raised his left hand to ruffle at Kiba's head. "Why don't you say we go and get some food. It's getting dark and we've been walking all day. And with all the searching you've done, I believe you've earned yourself a small treat."

Hidan was being nice? _Shit_. Kiba must have really struck the wrong chord.

Suddenly feeling rather guilty, the boy smiled as broadly as he could and jumped over at Hidan, all the while Akamaru barked animatedly at them as he came running up. Apparently, the pup had gone off on his own while Kiba and Hidan had their own conversation, but had not been fortunate in finding any long lost relatives of the silver haired man.

"Come on, boy! Let's go get some food!" Kiba said as animatedly as he could, hoping to be able to brighten Hidan up by acting as if everything was normal.

At the prospect of food, Akamaru immediately began to lead the way to Ichiraku's, which didn't gain any resistance from either of the human following them.

* * *

_Hidan's POV:_

This kid was much too innocent... The question had been naïve enough, he hadn't meant anything by it.

But that didn't mean that it didn't strike deep inside of Hidan.

He had never truly given a damn about people reacting the way they did when around him. Especially because he barely came across any of the older people with such a strict religious mindset. In his travels, he was more used to the people that were forty years old- if they had managed to survive the wars- or younger. It had always been those above fifty that had seen him as a hellspawn.

And, really, he had never given a _damn_ at their reaction. Whenever anyone spewed any demon crap at him, Hidan was happily sacrifice their souls to Lord Jashin without a second thought.

But with Kiba's presence, Hidan had not been allowed to deal with the prejudiced woman as he was accustomed to. Which, for some reason, made him begin to worry about _Kiba_ ever looking at him with that same amount of fear in his eyes.

The kid's eyes were beautiful because of all of the emotions held inside... Hidan just wasn't sure if he was able to handle _fear_ being one of those.

Remembering the way so many had looked upon him in his youth... There was something about that image that made Hidan worry about seeing Kiba's face filled with that much hatred.

And the thought of Kiba turned against him terrified the Jashinist.

But, right now... He wasn't sure why he had even thought of all of that before.

"And then I told them about how great Lord Jashin is!" Kiba smiled broadly as he stopped eating his ramen to look up at Hidan, which made the silver haired man look back, ignoring his own bowl of food.

Apparently, the kid had gone off to eat with another group of genin earlier in the day. And he had decided that Hidan had to hear about all of the things he had decided to tell the group, which just happened to be about some of the things Hidan decided to teach him.

With a chuckle, Hidan asked, "And how did they take the good word, my little student?"

Animatedly, Kiba swallowed a couple of noodles before turning to Hidan with a devious smirk. "They asked me if I was in a cult and if I had lost my mind."

He had heard comments like that about his religion before. It took a true genius mind to understand the subtleties and beauty that came from believing in a dangerous god like Lord Jashin was. For these very reasons, Hidan only laughed loudly at the answer, rather than take any insult from it.

"Lousy genin! Don't know what they're thinking!" He mockingly growled out, then patted Kiba on the head with a broad smile. "But you keep spreading the word, Kiba. We will eventually find more followers..." And with a devious smirk, he finished with, " _That_ is when we will strike out at the heathens!"

His religion wasn't peaceful. Hidan didn't hide this fact. But it also didn't perpetuate senseless killing. It was a sadistic, masochistic, messed up kind of religion that if taken the wrong way, would lead to the unnecessary deaths of money. Hidan, as one of the few, actually took lives on a very strict set of guidelines handed down by Lord Jashin himself to his most trusted priests.

"Yes, Sir!" Kiba mock saluted with a serious frown, then fell into giggles at the mere stupidity of the whole situation.

With a soft shake of his head, Hidan returned to eating his ramen, all the while Kiba resumed scarfing it down as if there was no tomorrow. They remained in this silence for a while, both just enjoying the other's company, and Hidan couldn't help but feel content for once.

Being with Kiba just felt _right_.

Sure, the kid was no older than fifteen, but he was not an immature little shit, no matter he tried to prove Hidan wrong. And he was entertaining to have around, especially after the horrid life Hidan had led.

"Hey, Kiba?"

He had felt the newest patron of the small ramen stand before he had heard him, and Hidan felt his good mood immediately leave him.

This man was undoubtedly a jonin. His strong chakra presence was a testament to that.

But, if he was so strong, just why would he be looking for Kiba?

The boy seemed to be accustomed to seeing him, though, for he merely turned to the new person and smiled softly. "Yeah, Kakashi Sensei. What's up?"

Kakashi Sensei? Maybe this was Kiba's teacher?

The man had a wild mane of silver hair on his head, and his hitaite covered his left eye completely. And, as if that wasn't odd enough, he wore a navy blue mask that covered from his nose all the way down to his neck... Basically, all Hidan could see was one simple, smiling eye.

"Remember how Akamaru met my pack a few months ago?" The man asked conversationally as he eased himself into the stool on the other boy's side.

Quite frankly, Hidan felt jealousy begin to spike up in him as this man took up Kiba's attention. But he tried his best to ignore it and instead pay attention to the conversation, to see if he could learn something more about the boy he had yet to tell him.

"Kakashi Sensei..." Kiba said worriedly, eyes widening, "Please tell me you didn't let your ninken run off with Akamaru."

The man waved Kiba off and took some time to order up some food, which made Kiba bristle physically, then, once he was finished asking the older man behind the counter for food, turned back to Kiba with eye still showing off his smile.

"Of course I did. Bull and Akino both really enjoy getting Akamaru drunk." The man almost sing-songed, which immediately enraged Kiba.

"Kakashi Sensei! Lady Tsunade told you to stop giving your pack sake!" The boy growled at the man, who merely sighed dramatically and rolled his eye.

" _I_ didn't get them anything. That was all Pakkun and Akino's doing."

Once more the boy growled, then he looked at Hidan apologetically, "I'll be back, Hidan. I promise. I just have to stop a pack of _fucking idiots_ ," He hissed this at Kakashi now, who merely ignored him, "From getting my dog drunk. I'll try to be fast!"

Then the boy was jumping off and running after his dog, which left Hidan chuckling softly. Honestly, he had no idea just what was going on. He just knew that Kiba was adorable when he got all stressed out.

But his amusement quickly faded when he noticed he had been left alone with the jonin... A man that had already undoubtedly noticed Hidan's high chakra levels.

Hidan went back to his food quietly without even looking at the man. If he didn't start anything, he had more chances of leaving alive... Well, he couldn't die. But even he had picked up some of Kiba's dramatics.

"Hmm..." He heard the other man hum in thought as he ate his food, "Kiba hasn't really been one for swearing... Isn't it odd he just did?"

Hidan mumbled noncommittally, not really saying anything about the matter.

This caused the man to look at him with an analytical eye, then it began to smile once more as the ramen man brought up his bowl of food.

"Has Kiba gone?" The man asked, moving to grab at his still full bowl, but Hidan shook his head.

"Nah, he'll be back in a few minutes... He's off chasing after his dog or something." Hidan explained, which, oddly enough, received an understanding nod from the owner.

After this, Hidan returned to his food and refused to look up from it. During this time, the masked ninja ate his food, but if it was with or without his mask, Hidan didn't even care.

He had a very bad feeling with that man around him...

"As delicious as ever, Teuchi!" Kakashi praised the man's food, which made the older man smile and wave at him, then he turned to Hidan. "So... Nice night, isn't it?"

Hidan breathed out as the man tried to strike up yet another conversation, then spared one glance at the other man before shaking his head. "You aren't good at reading people, aren't you, fucktard?"

Internally, he winced when the insult slipped from his lips. But on the outside he maintained the stern glare he had adopted.

"Just the exact opposite, actually, _Hidan_."

The way the man said his name... It was laced with mocking and humor.

Immediately, Hidan knew he was screwed.

But he didn't even try to move. He knew it would be hopeless to escape. So instead he decided to just enjoy the good ramen Kiba had bought him.

"I wonder..." The man drifted off conversationally, leaning over the stool Kiba had previously occupied to look Hidan more closely, even as the man kept his gaze on his food. "Just what is a missing nin from Iwagakure doing all the way in the Hidden Leaf?" He whispered, low enough that only he and Hidan could hear.

Hidan's body stiffened immediately as his true identity was whispered so easily, then turned his head so he could glare directly at Kakashi's only visible eye.

"What the fuck did you just say?" He growled dangerously, a thousand panicked thoughts flitting through his head.

What would this man do with this information? Would he try to fight Hidan? Would Hidan have to fight back?

And, worse yet... What if Kiba was around to hear any of this?

"You know what I said. And I don't really enjoy repeating myself." The man waved Hidan's anger off, leaning back on his stool to then glare at the other man. "Hidan... The Murderer of a Thousand Neighbors. What are you doing in Konoha?"

Hidan ground his teeth harshly together as soon as those words left Kakashi's lips, then did his best to smirk at the man. "What would you say if I said I'm here to extend an olive branch?"

"I'd call bullshit and spear your head on the scythe that killed many of my fellow shinobi." Kakashi answered in a deathly serious tone, eyes narrowed and speaking of nothing but anger and promises to go through with his threat.

He expected an answer like this... And with a sigh, Hidan growled and answered with, "Fine... I'm actually here to fuck your hokage and make amazing babies with her." He hissed out sarcastically, then shook his head, "You know me from the Bingo Book, don't you?"

"Of course." Kakashi answered, then looked behind him. "If you do anything to hurt the Inuzuka, I will _not_ hesitate to kill you."

The very idea of hurting Kiba revolted Hidan to the very core, but he said nothing about it. Instead he allowed the man to continue speaking as he stood up.

"You have been cited to meet with the Hokage at midnight. If you are late by even a second, you are as good as dead, got it?" The man leaned in to hiss this into Hidan's ear, then straightened up and began to smile once more. "How was the search, Kiba?"

It was when Kakashi mentioned him that Hidan noticed that Kiba was nearby once more. And a second after the man had asked that, the teen walked into the small shop, a panting and rather tired looking Akamaru beside him. Kiba was panting as well, and he glared at Kakashi as he sat down beside Hidan, then leaned against the man's shoulder without a second thought.

"Kakashi Sensei... You can't let Akamaru go with those guys... They're _party animals_!" Kiba whined, then closed his eyes and rubbed his head even more against Hidan's shoulder.

Hidan was stunned still to see the boy acting so needy, but didn't say anything when he noticed the glare sent his way by Kakashi. Instead he glared back at the man and asked, "Having fun there, kid?"

The sarcasm didn't come as easily... But it was still present.

"Yes." Kiba answered immediately, then yawned and threw himself over Hidan's lap. "Kakashi Sensei, I forbid you from ever talking to Akamaru again!" His voice was slightly muffled due to his mouth being pressed against Hidan's leg, and Hidan couldn't help but despair at the kid's actions.

Of all times... _Now?!_

Kakashi glared at Hidan dangerously, then, without taking his eye off Hidan, told Kiba, "I'm sorry, kid. But you know how the pack is, they have a mind of their own. Anyway, I've got to go now." Then his voice took on an amused tone, "See you later, _Hidan_."

How the man made his name sound like an insult was beyond Hidan... But he had to bite his tongue to keep from insulting him as the man left the establishment.

So sour Kakashi had made him that he wasn't even able to feel embarrassed when Kiba refused to move from his lap.


	10. Chapter 10

_Hidan's P.O.V:_

Getting the kid to leave him alone was much harder than Hidan thought it would be.

"But Hidan! Why don't you want to stay with me at my house?" Kiba whined for the fifth time, hanging from Hidan's outstretched arms with wide, begging eyes. "Am I not good enough for you?"

With a roll of his eyes, the silver haired man shook his head. "Kiba, must you always be so fucking dramatic? You need to go back to your Jashin damned home and I need to get myself a fucking filthy hotel room."

Admittedly, he said this without the usual fire the sentence would have contained if it had been directed at anyone that wasn't Kiba. He was tired and annoyed, but he just couldn't _make_ himself want to leave Kiba. And the fact that he'd have to leave the kid and his wonderful eyes only to go meet the annoying silver haired bastard named Kakashi sure didn't make him want to leave any more than he would have wanted otherwise.

The boy was currently hanging off of Hidan's arms, leaning back with a very convincing pout on his lips, all the while Hidan stood balancing back against the slight force he was exerting.

Kiba was a very cute individual. Hidan couldn't understand just _how_ the teenager was cute, but he was it.

... Must've been those amazing eyes...

"But why would you choose a filthy hotel room over my home?"

Those very brown eyes were wide and curious as Kiba looked directly into Hidan's own dark red eyes, and the silver haired man could see even a bit of hurt hidden in those depths.

Shit.

With a groan, Hidan pulled his arms into his chest, effectively causing Kiba to tumble into him. Then he wrapped one arm around the kid's shoulders, stepped to the side so he wasn't facing the kid, then ruffled his hair with the arm around his shoulders.

"Because I refuse to accept your hospitality. Because if you do something for me, then, in the end, I'm going to have to do something for you." Hidan answered, dropping his arm so it rested along the kid's collarbone. "And I refuse to have a debt held over my head by a snot nosed brat like you.

From the way Kiba's face scrunched up, Hidan could tell his words had annoyed him. And this made Hidan begin to doubt this choice of words.

He knew if he were nice about it, Kiba would never leave him alone. He would have to be at least a bit rude to get the kid off his ass. Even though he didn't like the idea, he knew he would have to keep the kid at arm's length for now. At least until he knew just how much the Hokage and Kakashi knew and what they would want to do with it.

"But, Hidan!"

"No buts, kid. Now get your ass in gear unless you want your mother coming after you and me for being irresponsible and you not going back home on time."

The pout Kiba now made had Hidan regretting ever having spoken up. His bottom lip jutted out and quivered slightly, the boy's eyes wide and pleading.

"Please come with me, Hidan... I don't want to go alone..."

Hidan could feel his self-control slipping. The more he looked at Kiba, the cuter the kid become. And the cuter he became, the more Hidan wanted to wrap him up in his arms and keep him protected.

Luckily for the man, Akamaru bounded up at that moment, growling grumpily at his master. The dog was dragging his paws and seemed rather irritated, most probably because of whatever Kakashi's dogs had done to him. Even though Hidan didn't completely understand the conversation that had happened between the kid and the bastard, he could tell that it had ended up with Akamaru in this condition.

"Oh, come on, boy. It's your fault for falling to peer pressure." Kiba stuck his tongue out with a roll of his eyes, which received an irritated bark from the dog. "Hey! Don't use that language around me! Just because Hidan and I can doesn't mean you can!"

The odd sentence caught Hidan's interest and he soon asked, "Did he just curse at you or something?"

Kiba nodded and looked back at the man, both then ignoring Akamaru's growls of indignation.

"He called me a fucking stupid bastard of a master. I think he's been hanging around you too much, Hidan." The boy said matter of factly, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so.

This made Hidan quirk an eyebrow then smirk slightly. Was Kiba actually being that much of a hypocrite?

"Kid... You're not one to talk. You've been swearing up and down at everyone you've deemed worthy of it." Hidan pointed out, then turned around with a wave of his hand, "Maybe a bit of separation will do you a bit of good. Swearing isn't becoming of a genin of the Hidden Leaf."

Quite frankly, Hidan could care less about Kiba adopting his crass manner of speaking. Swearing proved to add honesty to all statements. If something was really stupid, it was fucking stupid. Adding the swear added sincerity to all statements. And if someone was being a complete jerk, he or she deserved to know they were being a bastard, bitch, or bastardly bitch.

"Hidan, you're always swearing."

Beginning to walk away from Kiba, Hidan called over his shoulder, "Because I'm _fucking amazing_ enough to do it. Now go back home, jackass. I don't need you getting in trouble for being completely retarded."

"Fine!" Kiba called from behind him, "But tomorrow I'm going to hunt you down to continue looking for your siblings!"

"Alright!"

And with this, Hidan heard Kiba take off with Akamaru, his chakra signature becoming fainter with each step they took from each other.

It kind of hurt Hidan to be alone after having spent so much time with the annoying kids of Team 8. Especially now that Kiba was completely gone for the night.

But he didn't have time to think about that. Instead he had to worry about the meeting he was now to go into, one that would undoubtedly end horribly if he didn't play his cards right.

Raising his head to look up at the night sky, Hidan couldn't help but look directly at the bright moon. It was a crescent moon. And he'd never been big on superstition or premonitions, but... For some reason... Seeing the moon in this manner made a shiver run up his spine.

~/~

When he arrived at the Hokage's building, it was mostly deserted. None of the workers that had been there earlier in the day could be found. And now all was dark and almost lonely, giving the whole building an almost ethereal feel that had Hidan clutching at his prayer beads out of worry.

And once he reached the Hokage's office, he understood that all of his feelings of foreboding were justified.

The blonde woman sat with her hands clasped beneath her chin, eyes narrowed in concentration. To her left, her little lap dog stood with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed as well but in the direction of the door. And to her right stood the annoying bastard Kakashi, seemingly relaxed and calm even in the tense environment.

"Look at that, Lady Hokage..." Kakashi began slowly as Hidan stepped into the room, voice laced with mirth. "He _can_ follow instructions."

A disgruntled frown found its way onto Hidan's face as soon as the man spoke, and he soon answered back.

"Look at that, bastard thinks he's funny. It's a _shame_ , really. Was he dropped on his head as a child?"

Kakashi merely rolled his eye at Hidan's petulant answer while the Jashinist himself growled softly. He _really_ didn't like the other man. Not only had he threatened Hidan's likelihood of living a good life, he had also threatened his accessibility to Kiba.

"Hidan, Kakashi, stop acting like petulant children." The blonde woman before Hidan growled with a frown, "You are already aware of why I have asked you here, correct?"

Hidan nodded slightly at the question, even though he kept his gaze on Kakashi for a moment longer before he turned to look at the blonde woman.

"Yeah. Apparently my reputation proceeds me." Hidan grunted softly, allowing himself to fall back into his angered and petulant attitude now that he didn't have to hold onto faked propriety. "You Konoha jackasses aren't as stupid as I thought you would have been."

The woman's blue eyes became cold at the man's words, but Hidan didn't mind. She already knew who he truly was. He didn't have to act nice anymore.

"I didn't recognize you at first, I have to admit." The Hokage sighed as she stood up from her desk, then moved to grab at a book in front of her. "But then I began to look through the Bingo Book and found a picture I recognized... Does this man seem familiar to you, Hidan?"

With this question, the woman opened up the book onto a marked page and showed Hidan his own page. His picture was grainy and slightly wasted, which let him know this was an older copy of the bounty book. But the name above his picture and its description were still rather accurate.

"Speaks of having immortality. Could be a bluff. But is considered deranged and dangerous. Approach with utmost caution." Kakashi recited, then looked at Hidan with his one uncovered eye narrowed. "Sounds like the kind of person we should detain on sight."

Hidan couldn't help but smirk at that. "Sounds like it... Why the fuck haven't you done it yet? Too cowardly to mess with me?"

"Not at all." The other man bit back, "The Hokage wanted to speak with you alive. If it were up to me, though... Well... I kind of want to see if that claim to immortality has any _substance_ to it."

Oh, Hidan was a loyal follower of Lord Jashin. And his Lord had payed him back in kind for all of his work. Immortality was achievable with the right amount of faith and loyalty. But, usually, Hidan didn't leave anyone alive if they found out about his little ability. It wouldn't be a good thing to have _everyone_ know he could survive _everything_ , after all.

"Kakashi, stand down." Tsunade sighed, motioning with her fingers for the man to step back. "Hidan... You came into my village under the false pretense of coming to search for your family."

"That wasn't a lie."

"That wasn't a lie."

The three villagers looked at him in surprise, which then made Hidan sigh and shake his head.

"I _did_ come here to look for my long lost brother and sister." He explained himself, internally hoping that Kiba's name would not be brought up in the conversation. "I know they were sold off to mercenaries or slavers or _something_ here in the Hidden Leaf."

"You expect us to believe this? That a man as cold hearted and blood thirsty as you could ever actually care for anyone other than himself?"

His glare was then directed at the black haired woman. She dared question him? ... Maybe these people weren't as retarded as he believed.

"Not at all. You cocksuckers are more likely to try to kill me once you've heard what you want rather than actually listen to my real words." Hidan then shrugged, crossing his arms to lean against the wall behind him. "I've always wanted to know what happened to the unfortunate fuckers after they were sold off. Call it my curiosity."

Silence reigned over the group for a few seconds after he had answered, then the blonde woman walked around her desk and towards Hidan. And once she was close enough, she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in, blue eyes glaring dangerously.

"You are a missing nin with a trail of bodies greater than any mediocre ninja could ever create." She hissed all the while Hidan looked at her with an almost bored air about him. "You believe you can stroll into my village and not have anything happen to you once we've uncovered the truth?"

At this, Hidan rolled his eyes, "Not at all... I just honestly thought it would you idiots a bit longer to figure out who I was. I would have been long gone by the time you had figured it out..." Then he smirked at the woman, causing her to sneer at him. "At least... That had been the initial plan."

The woman's hands tightened around the fabric of his shirt, then Hidan found himself being pushed roughly into the wall, the woman smiling dangerously at him.

"Well then, it's great things didn't go as planned, right?" She asked sweetly, then shoved him once more before letting go of his shirt and turning around. "I have an assignment for you, Hidan. One that will prove to be mutually gratifying."

"Crazed bitch..." Hidan muttered under his breath as he straightened up his roughed up clothes, then looked up when he processed the bit about an assignment. "The hell? Are you really this fucking insane? An assignment for me? I thought you little Konoha bitches would just lock me up as soon as you figured out who I was."

With her back still to him, Tsunade answered. "Maybe under other circumstances. But I have rather pressing matters to worry about that have just given you an out for your past crimes to Konoha."

This caused Hidan to quirk an eyebrow. And when he looked at Kakashi and Shizune, he could tell both of them were rather uncomfortable and unsure with the whole situation.

"You're talents for destruction and murder are known throughout all the lands. Finding out that you have decided to slaughter any group of given shinobi would not cause much of a stir in the lands because of your past with senseless murder." The woman continued, then finally turned around with a soft smile. "You will become Konoha's free agent. You are to accept the most dangerous S-Ranked missions I will give you and complete them without any complaint. And if you are ever captured during your missions, you will play the part of a psychotic lunatic that just wanted to quench his lord's blood thirst and, if asked, deny any affiliation with the Hidden Leaf. Am I understood?"

It took Hidan a moment to process what the woman had said. And he finally had, the man's eyes widened and he immediately began to argue.

If he was accepting missions, he wouldn't be able to spend time with Kiba. And, worse yet... If he continued murdering people, he'd run the risk of the boy finding out about who he truly was.

"No! I refu-" He began to shout, only for Kakashi to shake his head and interrupt.

"You can't. Because if you refuse our hospitable offer, then you will be exposed as the missing nin you are and returned to Iwagakure to be put to trial for your crimes. Which would mean your time in the Hidden Leaf would be cut short." The man explained smoothly, his smirk heard clear in his words.

" _What_?! You _bastards_ can't do this!"

"We can and we will." Tsunade growled, slamming her hand against her desk. "There is no going around this. You will do our dirty work, Hidan, like it or not. And you will keep everything you do under wraps because all of your missions will be classified. Am I understood?"

He was caught between a rock and a hard place. If he were to deny, then he'd be forced to admit to being a criminal and never to see Kiba again. But if he were to agree to it, then he'd run the risk of being caught in a mission.

"Good." Tsunade smirked after he spent a few seconds without answering, "Kakashi will be your handler. He will go with you on all of your missions. I thought it'd be nice for you to have a familiar face with you to keep you in check."

Kakashi's smirk was clear on his face as he saluted at the other man.

"Now you are to come back here in two days time for your first assignment. Come prepared for all kinds of missions." The blonde woman instructed, waving the man to leave. "And, please, keep yourself from causing too much of an uproar in your time in my village. It'd be a shame if all of the friends you managed to create were to learn about how a truly despicable human you are."

The glare Hidan sent her way was vicious. And the smirk he received was smug.

She knew she had won. She had complete control of Hidan now.

Not only could she use his criminal past against him, threaten to return him to Iwagakure, but she could also threaten him with Kiba and the other runts he had gotten to meet.

She had all of the cards... And Hidan was left with nothing to defend himself with.

 _Damn_.


End file.
